Those cast aside
by Dusk Ado
Summary: Completely abandoned, if anyone has a comment on it or wants to adopt this, please PM or review.
1. The Beginning

A.N. Okay, first off, I don't own Naruto, Hinata, the Naruto Universe, or any other crossovers I might add in. I do own Kaguya Kenju and some of his skills

Those Cast Aside

Chapter 1

The Beginning

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"GET OUT!" a shrill voice pierced the quiet Konoha night. A small spiky-haired child suddenly pushed open the front double doors of the village orphanage, running at breakneck speed as soon as he had gotten outside. A fat, irate woman burst out of the still closing doors still screaming her angry command. Stones and gravel slipped and shifted as the boy's feet crushed them in his frantic escape. With his heart pounding, the boy sprinted down the wide street, avoiding any and all light sources – hence he be discovered. Drunken voices jeered out insults and death threats as the boy streaked by and he heard some of the voices group into a small mob.

Just before reaching his destination the boy turned to look towards the full moon. Pale light shone upon sun kissed blond hair and dark triple whisker marks before the moon's light wrapped itself behind a blanket of clouds.

Turning abruptly, Uzumaki Naruto ducked into an alleyway and out of sight. Crouching low behind a stack of boxes Naruto tried to catch his breath. The sound of ragged panting filled the air as the patter of rain began.

"He went this way!" a slurred voice proclaimed, and Naruto's five-year old heart froze. A mob of about twenty staggering men and women meandered down an alleyway in exactly the opposite direction of Naruto's hideout. The boy in question sighed in relief – then leaped into the air as a menacing voice sounded right behind him. Naruto whirled around to behold a man standing behind him. Blue eyes, wide with fear, met brown eyes clouded by bottomless hatred.

"If you though that you could hide from me you were wrong demon!" the man, obviously a ninja judging by his headband, whipped out a ninja-to from a sheath on his back, "Time to die!" Before Naruto could react, the man was charging right at him, swinging the blade in vicious two-handed vertical strike. Naruto leaped back a few feet, narrowly dodging the blade, and then ducked to avoid a second, wickedly fast strike aimed to cleave his head off. Trying to avoid the next strike Naruto tripped over a wooden crate and fell. The blade flashed out, silvery white in the gloom, and Naruto cried out in pain as his foe cut deeply into his right arm. His blood spattered crimson upon the ground, mixing with the clear liquid descending from the sky.

The ninja smirked cruelly while Naruto crumpled to the ground a few feet away, howling in pain and nursing his lacerated arm. He moved to finish the boy off with one more blow when a flash of light off to the edge of his peripheral vision warned him to jump back. The vengeful shinobi moved just in time to avoid a ghostly white kunai that, with astonishing speed, bored through the space his head had just occupied. The kunai buried itself to the hilt in the wall behind the shinobi with a dull thump.

"Back away from the kid" a shallow, empty voice commanded as the startled man whirled about to face the newly perceived threat. His flesh peeled from his teeth into a feral, bloody grin as he observed this new arrival to be a child, a boy no older than twelve.

Pure white hair tumbled over shoulders and across the right side of the boy's face, nearly obstructing his pale green eyes. The boy wore a child's yukata, scuffed and worn in some places, and miniature ANBU style pants. The child, though small, had an air of command about him.

"Get out of here if you know what's good for you kid" the ninja sneered contemptuously, while at the same time wondering where the hell the kid had come from. This was a one way alley, and the boy had appeared from the dead-end side.

The boy's eyes narrowed as he reached into his yukata and pulled out half a dozen kunai, just as pale as the one embedded in the wall. The ninja laughed out loud, nearly doubled over with sickening mirth.

"Oh that's just rich! The kid thinks he can fight me!" the ninja berated, "Tell you what kid, if you get out of here now I won't paste your bones to the wall!"

The boy smirked and giggled, "I'd like to see you try!" With that, the child flung the kunai at breakneck speed.

The cruel shinobi's sneer was wiped off his face and replaced with a look of amazement an instant before the kunai slammed into his body. The man flew back into the wall, slumped to the ground… and "poof"ed into a wooden crate.

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The boy didn't even have time to react in shock before a flicker of movement gave away his foe's position. But as he tried to turn to face the threat-WHAM!

The white haired boy soared through the air, blown off his feet by a crushing kick to his spine. He hit the ground and rolled over and over before slamming brutally into the alleyway wall, leaving a sizable crater.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The ninja grinned as the kid hit the wall with enough power to crush a normal civilian's spine, then grunted in pain as the forgotten blond kid slammed one of the discarded kunai into the ninja's shin, screaming incoherently. Only the man's leg guards prevented him from receiving a crippling injury.

"You brat!" the ninja's blade roared through the air in a murderous diagonal strike. It struck home and Naruto screamed in pain as cold steel clove deeply into his chest and stomach. Blood flowed freely from the massive injury and the ninja crowed in triumph as the child slumped to the ground and lay silent.

"You're finished demon!" he cried out "I've finally saved the village from your filthy scourge a–AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!" A deathly scream tore from his throat as a trio of white kunai buried themselves in his chest, one struck him directly in the right lung, the pommel of the second barreled into his solar plexus and drove the air from his lungs, and the third kunai struck right above his heart. His eyes widened in horror, the ninja-to falling from numbing fingers, as he collapsed to the ground.

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Kenju groaned in pain as he hauled himself to his feet, crouching and throwing kunai was _not_ the best way to spend one's recovery time. Walking towards the fallen Naruto Kenju gasped as he saw the deep gash in Naruto's body. Without hesitation he pulled off the nearly shredded yukata and began to tear it into long strips. After the yukata was mutilated beyond recognition, Kenju proceeded to bind up Naruto's injuries as best he could. Stepping back for a second to observe his work Kenju sighed.

"Damn it all!" he moaned as blood still oozed through the bandages, "you won't make it to the hospital; I guess you'll have to come with me." Gathering Naruto's limp body in his arms, Kenju hurried towards the dead-end of the alley. Stopping in front of a white section of wall, he pressed his hand to the wall and grinned briefly as a portion of the wall simply crumbled away. Sucking in a large breath, Kenju walked into the darkness behind the wall.

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The next morning

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Blue eyes fluttered open as Naruto awoke. A white ceiling greeted his eyes and he groaned. _Great, I'm in the hospital again._

Suddenly the events of the previous night rushed back to him, and Naruto's hands flew to his chest, only to discover hastily tied bandages barring him from his injury. Naruto's eyes furrowed in confusion, a confusion that grew exponentially as a voice behind him began speaking.

"I didn't expect you to be awake so soon, that gash almost cut your right lung in half!" the white haired boy from the night before commented as he sauntered forward, before crouching before a confused Naruto. "If you're wondering how I could tell… well, let's just say that I could _actually see your lungs!_"

Millions of thoughts flew through Naruto's head, but one definite fact became very clear: he was NOT in the hospital. This thought was confirmed when Naruto looked around and noticed that the room he currently occupied was spherical, off-white, and… very creepy looking.

"Before you ask what I think you're about to ask, let's get acquainted" the boy extended a hand "I'm Kaguya Kenju"

Naruto shook Kenju's hand and whispered out, "Uzumaki Naruto…what is this place?" Kenju squirmed a bit as Naruto waited for an answer.

"I thought you'd ask," he commented lightly, "this is my hideout, my temporary home you could say." Looking around, Naruto noticed several sleeping pads, and a small refrigerator – which was TOTALLY out of place.

"What is this place made of?" Naruto gasped out, his ribs burning in pain.

Kenju closed his eyes as he said, "Human bone." Naruto's eyes bulged outward and he asked, rather fearfully, "Whose bones?"

"Mine" Kenju murmured. Naruto gaped inarticulately at Kenju while the boy took a deep breath. "It's my clan's bloodline, the ability to manipulate our bones." To prove his point Kenju grimaced in discomfort as bones began to protrude from his wrists. Gripping the bones, Kenju pulled them out of his body, revealing a half-dozen of the white kunai he had used the night before. Releasing his grip, Kenju let the bone-kunai clatter to the floor. Lifting his eyes to meet Naruto's, Kenju was shocked to see a broad, excited grin.

"That is AWESOME!" Naruto proclaimed "you could be a super ninja with a skill like that!" Kenju smiled, that idea had occurred to him years ago, but he had lacked the proper motivation, that and a team.

"Naruto, I would like you to meet some of my friends" Kenju said, still smiling.

"AWESOME!" Naruto didn't realize he had leaped up until his feet hit the ground. Kenju gaped.

"How can you stand yet after an injury like that?" He demanded, "Let me check that injury, you probably opened it up again." Kenju unwound the bandages on Naruto's chest to reveal…nothing. No wound, no giant gash, no gushing blood, no _scar_. Every trace of the injury was gone.

"Wow, that's cool" Naruto commented as Kenju simply stared – slack jawed – at Naruto's body where the injury _should have been_.

Naruto's eyes brightened and he blurted out loud his first thought, "maybe that's _my _bloodline; super healing!"

Kenju kept smiling on the outside, but on the inside a sense of unease began to grow. He'd been briefed on the mission; recruit the so called "demon child" boy with the odd chakra. He hadn't expected a five-year old child who could regenerate a near-fatal injury in about eight hours. Would this be something that he'd regret? Shrugging the feeling off, Kenju gestured to Naruto to follow as he began walking down a tunnel. And just like that Konoha lost what would have been one of its best ninja ever.

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The Hidden Clearing

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Kenju smirked as he and Naruto exited the tunnel after about three miles of walking. Naruto simply gaped at the clearing that the tunnel had opened out to.

Giant viridian trees whirled in a huge dome, surrounding houses and training grounds that looked like they had been grown straight out of the trees that sheltered them. There seemed to be three exits; one to the north which opened out into the forest beyond, one to the west which led to another clearing that contained a river, and the third exit opened to the south-east leading back into the tunnel Kenju and Naruto had entered from.

"Wow! What is this place? Who made it? How did you find it?" Kenju shook his head as the barrage of questions being fired at him began to coalesce into an unpleasant migraine. Massaging his temples with one hand Kenju pulled a switch that closed the south-east gate with a tremendous BANG! Immediately people started appearing, either by running from the camp, dropping from the tree-dome, or rising out of the rocky cliff that marked the tunnel's entrance.

"Hey Kenju-san!" a middle aged man called out, brushing ash-colored hair out of his eyes, "Who'd you find this…" The man trailed off as he saw Naruto, and he looked absolutely shocked. He stepped forward after a moment and extended his hand to Naruto smiling cheerfully.

"Uzumaki Naruto! I didn't know that you'd be joining us!" the man exclaimed as Naruto shook his hand. Naruto eyed the man warily, expecting him to attack like so many others had, but the man just kept smiling.

"Kijaan Ado, at your service!" Ado smirked, and then turned to Kenju and assumed a surprised, confused expression. "Hey Kenju-san, what's that behind you?"

Kenju didn't even look; he just dropped straight to the ground as a windmill shuriken sailed over his head with astonishing speed. He rose swearing as Naruto sweat dropped.

"Damn it Ado-teme, what have I told you about springing traps on me all the time?" Kenju whined.

Ado just acted confused and asked 'innocently' "Um, nothing?" Kenju just face faulted back to the ground and Ado laughed. Meanwhile, Naruto noticed several people wearing gray trench coats and sunglasses approaching. Along with them was a girl with lavender hair and pupil-less eyes.

"Hello Naruto-san" Hyuuga Hinata greeted Naruto with a calmness that she was definitely not feeling, in fact she was quaking in her sandals with embarrassment. While Naruto talked to Hinata and the few members of the Aburame clan that had followed her Kenju gained an odd look in his eye.

"Um, guys I'll be right back – I just want to check something out." Kenju dashed off towards the north gate, passed through it, and hurried out into the forest in a north-east direction.

"Shouldn't someone go with him?" Naruto asked as he noticed Kenju leaving. Aburame Shino shook his head.

"No, he will return unharmed, we have scouts in the forest." Shino then glanced above Naruto and sighed. "It's all right Isarbi, you can come out; he won't hurt you"

Before Naruto's eyes a girl with gills, fins, and webbed fingers crawled out from the rocks, eyeing Naruto warily.

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Konoha Forest the Infestation

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Kenju leaped through the bushes towards the faint chakra signature he had felt within the camp. The signature was so faint and fading quickly. Entering a clearing Kenju stopped short before a six-inch gray slug which was emitting minute amounts of chakra and roiling with distress.

(Help me…) the slug cried out, (somebody please help me.)

The chakra emissions ceased abruptly and the life force of the slug began fading. Without hesitation Kenju lifted the slug off of the ground, ignoring its gasp of shock, and channeled some of his chakra into it. Immediately the slug's life force steadied and it stopped writhing in panic.

(What are you? Why have you helped me?) the slug asked in a voice laced with hope.

"I'm a human" Kenju said, "And I'm curious as to why you're out here alone. What exactly are you?" The slug turned its frontal segment towards Kenju's face and Kenju could swear it was emanating despair.

(If I tell you you'll kill me, just like _he_ killed my brothers and sisters.) Kenju's eyebrows disappeared into his hair in disbelief.

"Try me; I'm not one to kill in cold blood"

(Not that it matters; I'm going to die anyway so I suppose I'll tell you. I am member of a species called the Yeerks. We're a parasitic species that require chakra from a living thing to survive. This usually means we need a human host, but _he_ designed us for another purpose)

"Another purpose?" Kenju seemed thoughtful; he abruptly channeled more chakra into the Yeerk as he noticed its life again fading. The Yeerk shuddered slightly.

(He wanted to use us as his slavers and shock troops. He modified our genetic structure to make us totally dependent on our host, not I cannot survive for much longer.)

"That's wrong… and sad." Kenju muttered, "What exactly can you do?"

The Yeerk laughed, (In my current position, nothing. I'm blind, lame, and unable to travel anywhere unaided; but Yeerks do have one ability that saves our lives)

The Yeerk's voice took on a deadly serious tone. (Yeerks can infest humans by entering their ear canal and worming their way into their brain. Once we reach the human's brain we flatten ourselves and adhere to the surface of the brain, and can from there tie into the brain's neurons. At that point the Yeerk will be able, if they so choose, to take full control of the host's body, chaining their host's mind to a corner of their brain. The only drawback to this is that the Yeerk must be infused with chakra every three days from an outside source, or directly from a willing host – who still has their chakra at their beck and call. Only with a willing host can a Yeerk survive for more than three days, as the host usually attempts to kill the Yeerk when it exits their ear. So far none of us have ever found a willing host, perhaps only I am left…) The Yeerk fell silent.

Kenju held the Yeerk in his hand, deep in thought. Here was a creature that had been created to be a weapon of evil, but this one didn't seem evil or even malicious at all. Completely dependent on a willing host to survive, unable to see, and dying in his hand, this Yeerk had told him of a repulsive existence but Kenju only felt pity.

(Why? Why do you not kill me?)

"Tell me, Yeerk, do you have a name?"

Confusion emanated from the slug like creature as Kenju continued to sustain its life with his own chakra. As the Yeerk pondered this Kenju stood and lifted the Yeerk to eye level.

(My name is Aftran 948. Why do you ask my name human; do you wish to know who you will destroy?)

"No" Kenju's eyes narrowed, his mind set. This would be risky, but potentially useful, and it would save a life.

(Then why? Why do you ask my name?) Aftran cried out in despair, expecting at any moment for Kenju's fingers to tighten around her body and crush her life away.

"Because I'm going to save you"

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The Hidden Clearing

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"So you're all outcasts from Konoha or Oto?" Naruto asked in disbelief as Aburame Shibi finished the history of the camp that Naruto had been brought to. After a moment Ado responded.

"Yes, we've come here because our lives were unbearable in our home villages. We don't have a name for our current village, but we do train to be effective ninja. There are a few of us who are incapable of this though, like Isarbi-chan here and Kenju-kun. Isarbi was experimented on by the leader of Oto, an evil man named Orochimaru, and her body can't handle being out of water for more than an hour at a time. Kenju, on the other hand, could become a great ninja, but could never bear to take a life; we almost beat him to death once trying to get him to fight back." Ado paused, "so Naruto-san, would you like to join us? Would you like to become a great ninja?"

Naruto's grin looked capable of splitting his head open, "I'll become the best ninja in the world! Believe it!"

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Konoha Forest (the Infestation)

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"…I'm going to save you"

Before Aftran could respond to the statement Kenju had lifted Aftran's body to press against his right ear.

"I believe you know what to do" He stated matter-of-factly after a few seconds.

Aftran was shocked; this human had not only spared her, he had _offered_ to become her host _willingly_. This couldn't be real; there was no logical explanation for it.

(Do you have any idea what you're doing, human?!) Aftran demanded.

Kenju simply replied "I'm possibly giving up control of my body and endangering my own existence to become the host of a helpless parasite who expected to die from chakra starvation. And I don't care."

(You don't care? You're going to give up your freedom just to save me?)

"I have a feeling that you'll be reasonable to me for this. Either way, I don't care; I get to save something for once in my life because I wanted to rather than being ordered around. Just get inside my head already Aftran!" Kenju's words were spoken with such a sense of finality that Aftran finally complied.

(I will try to make it as painless as possible, human…thank you.) Aftran choked out.

Almost immediately Kenju felt a numbing sensation cover his ear as Aftran begin to push her way inside his head. She pushed past the opening of his ear canal and Kenju winced in discomfort as his inner ear was forcibly expanded by Aftran's body. Aftran sensed his pain and fear as she slithered further into his ear canal, pulling more of her body into Kenju's ear and causing him to tilt his head to the right as his sense of balance destabilized. Abruptly, about halfway into his head, she stopped moving as her mind roiled in turmoil.

(I can't do it. I can't take your body for myself, I can't do it,) Aftran moaned in defeat. (You're obviously young, you don't know what you're doing,) She tried to back out of his head, only to hear his voice.

"You know what, maybe I don't know what I'm doing but I want to save your life. If you feel that badly about infesting me you can just give me control sometimes when you feel like it. From what you told me it's possible to do that."

Of course! Aftran almost smiled, or whatever slugs do to express happiness, as this revelation occurred to her. (Very well human.) With that she pushed further into Kenju's ear canal, twisting and turning as Kenju continued to spasm in discomfort. Twice more her resolve faltered, and Kenju had to do some serious talking to make Aftran continue. Finally, she reached his brain and made contact.

Kenju gasped in surprise; he had suddenly lost the ability to move his right arm, it now hung limply at his side. Focusing inward, he could actually feel the cool, moist Yeerk making contact with his brain. Aftran steeled herself and began to spread her body across Kenju's brain. Kenju simply waited while he felt Aftran slowly continue to crawl through his head and he felt part of her begin to sink into the contours of his brain. It definitely felt weird. As he felt the last of the gray slug slip itself into his head Kenju sighed, now there would be no turning back.

Little by little Kenju lost the ability to control his body as Aftran finally sank the last of her body across his brain. His breathing became regulated by a will not his own, his eyes started to move around without conscious thought, his hunger became someone else's hunger, and his limbs would not respond. As Aftran began acclimated herself to his brain Kenju felt himself detach from his body; he could still feel everything that he was, but movement remained beyond his power now. Kenju's mind raced; this was unpleasant, this was terrifying, this was…

Interesting.

Aftran felt her host's panic begin to build and was about to detach herself and escape when she felt chakra entering her body, willingly given by her host who now regarded his situation with mere curiosity. Aftran the Yeerk felt an emotion she had never known before; gratitude. This human had given her everything; a body, chakra to survive, and most importantly understanding. And he had given it all willingly.

(Are you still sure of this Kenju?) Aftran inquired after a moment. Her host's mind jumped in surprise.

((How do you know my name now? I know that I never introduced myself to you.))

(I have access to your brain, your body, and your memories. I essentially am you now, or in our case I can control your body occasionally and act like a voice in your head the rest of the time. Your name was the first thing I learned.)

Kenju processed this new revelation; if Aftran could review his memories did that mean that she could-

(Read your mind?) Aftran finished for him, practically giggling. Well, that answered that.

((We should probably get back to the camp so nobody comes looking for me.)) Kenju pointed out as Aftran looked over Kenju's body; moving his arms about as she tested out her host's body.

(Agreed, explanations would be awkward) Suddenly Kenju's legs began moving, turning him around and walking towards the camp. Kenju reacted in surprise again.

((How do you know where the camp- never mind, access to my memories; duh)) Kenju laughed internally. The longer this went on, the more he discovered he actually liked being a host to Aftran; he had never really cared about what others thought of him, in fact he had wanted nothing more than to disappear from their calculating eyes. Now he was getting his chance to disappear more often – even in plain sight – and Aftran would have a body to use.

(You- you're actually _enjoying_ this?!) Aftran marveled at her host's thought process. Her mind raced while she moved Kenju's body through the forest; perhaps there were other survivors of the genocide, perhaps she could find them and other willing hosts, perhaps-

WHAM!

((Perhaps we could concentrate on where we're going Aftran?)) Kenju mentally laughed as Aftran backed up his body, swearing inventively at the sapling that had "gotten in the way."

(Sure, whatever you say… )Aftran mumbled, embarrassed, as they continued on their way back to the camp.

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The Hidden Clearing

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(Amazing! You mean this entire community is living just outside of Konoha and they don't have a clue it exists?) Aftran laughed in delight. (_He_ always said that the Konoha-nin had to be hit over the head with a situation before they took action. I guess he has to be right sometimes.)

He, Orochimaru. Aftran had already explained to Kenju how Orochimaru had deserted Konoha 50 years ago and began his sick experiments on humans and other creatures.

Kenju observed as his eyes swiveled rapidly to take in all of the detail the clearing had to offer, his face frozen in a look of wonder. As people noticed "him" and began walking over Kenju suddenly panicked.

((Aftran! You have to give me control of my head right now! People will become suspicious that I'm an imposter if you keep looking around like that!)) Kenju felt Aftran's reluctance before she cut off her connection with part of his brain, leaving Kenju in control. Kenju, as himself, casually greeted Shino, Naruto, Hinata, and Isarbi. As he engaged in conversation with them Aftran took the opportunity to sift through more of Kenju's memories; specifically those that dealt with the people he talked to. She cried out in shock when she learned Isarbi's story.

(Kenju, please ask to talk to Isarbi alone; I want to meet with her personally) Aftran requested, not that Kenju could really refuse being her host.

((Sure, no problem Aftran.))

As the conversation drew to a close Kenju motioned to Isarbi, and then subtly gestured towards a particular rock formation. Isarbi nodded fractionally and followed Kenju as Hinata, Naruto, and Shino returned to camp.

Kenju and Isarbi easily scaled the rocks and pushed aside the boulder that concealed their cave. Once inside Isarbi led Kenju to the pond she had discovered about a month ago.

"So Kenju, you wanted to talk to me about something?" Isarbi asked conversationally.

Kenju's face blanked for a moment before he said, "No, actually I found someone who wanted to talk to you. She said her name is Aftran 948."

At the sound of the name Aftran; Isarbi gaped and her eyes began watering.

"A-Aftran? You found Aftran?" Isarbi began trembling violently, "I thought that Orochimaru killed her. How did you find her? Where is she? I want to talk to her!"

"Alright, I'll let you talk to her Isarbi-chan, but I'd like to know why you want to."

"Aftran and I occupied the same testing area in _his_ lab, we became friends after a while and I looked out for her; whenever someone was coming I would become her… her host to hide her and prevent them from killing her. I told them that she'd died in the tank, cut off from chakra. After _he_ threw me out into the ocean and we got separated I didn't know what became of her." Isarbi breathed heavily, exhausted from talking so much. "Where is she?"

Before Isarbi's eyes Kenju suddenly stiffened and slumped as a gray slug slowly oozed its way out of his ear. She gaped in shock when Aftran landed in Kenju's outstretched hand, and remained there calmly.

(Good to see you again Isarbi-neechan) Aftran commented warmly as Kenju groggily regained total control of his body.

"Aftran! You took over Kenju's body to see me, how could you?! You told me that you'd never take over an involuntary…host?" Isarbi trailed off as she stared from Aftran in Kenju's hand to Kenju – who looked taken aback – and back, mouthing inarticulately like a fish out of the water (sorry, couldn't resist).

"Kenju, you- you're not…v-voluntary…are you?" as Kenju smiled almost shyly and nodded Isarbi burst into tears, "He saved you! I thought I'd never see you again Aftran…Kenju saved you and you took his body as thanks! He didn't know…" Isarbi faltered and looked back at Kenju.

"Kenju, why did you become a voluntary host for her? Did she trick you into this? Did you know what that would entitle?"

"Yes, I did. Aftran told me all about herself and what becoming a host entitled. I made my descision after I'd heard everything."

Kenju's eyes looked almost pleading.

"She was _dying _when I found her, Isarbi. I couldn't just leave her there to perish. Besides, I've realized that being a host isn't all that bad." Kenju asserted as he lifted Aftran and pressed her against his ear. Isarbi could only watch, openmouthed, as Kenju calmly let Aftran slither back into his head, only jerking slightly as she again assumed control.

"I'm still surprised that he offered to become my host voluntarily" Aftran declared using Kenju's mouth and voice. "I fully expected him to kill me when I told him what I was, instead he saved my life." (And I will always be grateful to you for that) she added silently to Kenju.

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A.N. Ok, I've finally decided to write another fanfiction. Here's to me, yay...

you've probably read this a million times but here: please review if you liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Okay, first off, I don't own Naruto, Hinata, the Naruto Universe, or any other crossovers I might add in. I do own Kaguya Kenju and some of his skills

Those Cast Aside

Chapter 2

The Voluntary

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The Hidden Clearing (One Month Later)

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_So far things are going really well for me _Naruto thought as he, Shino, and Hinata carefully walked across the river to practice their chakra control. Kijaan Ado simply sat on the opposite bank and called out tips to the three children.

_They've really progressed well for such young kids_ Ado thought with pride as he studied his assigned "sub-genin" team.

In the encampment, now known as Rakugosha no Seidou (Sanctuary of the Outcasts), ninja would be assigned sets of "wannabe" ninja as soon as they made jounin. This sub-genin squad would work together from age five to age ten to become a practically welded-together team. Then would come the actual genin survival exam and the awarding of the bronze headband (1), after that the jounin sensei and their team would report to nearby villages, like Kiri or Iwa or, rarely, even Kumo (though Hinata would never be sent there, for obvious reasons.) Konoha was never consulted for missions, as almost everyone in the encampment was now considered a missing-nin. Explanations would be awkward, at best.

Naruto slipped in his concentration and almost fell into the river, but Hinata caught him with a steady hand and helped him get back up. No blush crossed her face as he profusely thanked her, strange. For some reason Ado and the other ninja couldn't understand Hinata had, in the past two days, become much more self confident and outgoing. Most jounin had praised Ado for his breakthrough with the young Hyuuga, but Ado simply shrugged and told them he had nothing to do with it.

_I guess the new motivation is all in her head_ Ado mentally shrugged as he watched Shino stand stationary, waiting for the rest of his team to catch up.

How right he was.

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Rakugosha no Seidou Caves (four days before)

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(Kenju! I've discovered the location of another Yeerk!) Aftran rejoiced as she brought herself out of meditation. (They're with a human and approaching!)

Over the past few weeks Kenju and Aftran had worked out a system of control over Kenju's body. To Aftran's surprise, and delight, Kenju had been more than willing to give her control of his body for about eighty percent of the day. Kenju spent most of the time deep in thought, meditating and trying to reach out with his consciousness to sense other Yeerks. Aftran, once she realized what Kenju was trying to do, had joined him when they retired to their caves with Isarbi each night. To shield them from outside distractions Kenju and Aftran worked on creating a stasis-like spherical chamber out of insulated bone. Kenju called it the Hone Reikyuu or Bone Casket because while inside it he and Aftran were almost totally disconnected from the outside world. Inside they would separate and begin to extend their minds, looking for other Yeerks to possibly save.

If anyone were to enter the Hone Reikyuu while Kenju and Aftran were in meditation they'd stare as a boy and a Yeerk lay inert within and channeled invisible chakra in small bursts outward. Then they'd hit themselves on the head and ask themselves what drugs they were on and where could they get more. Only a Hyuuga would notice the small waves of concentrated chakra emanating from the sphere. Too bad for Kenju and Aftran there was in fact a very curious Hyuuga who'd noticed the chakra and even now was wandering down the tunnel that would lead to the Hone Reikyuu, and Kenju's greatest secret.

Hinata slowly crept towards the location of the chakra within the hidden cave she'd discovered. Okay, normally she wasn't one to spy, but this chakra was very odd; because the exact same chakra signature emitted from two different sources.

As she finally reached the cavern Hinata stopped and stared. A sphere of some white material had been embedded in the cave wall, and from inside it the two chakra sources continued to send out their emissions. Hinata silently activated her Bayakugan and gasped; inside the sphere sat Kaguya Kenju and a strange gray slug, both emitting chakra that definitely belonged to Kenju. Even as she stared, Kenju picked up the slug and placed it by his right ear. Hinata's confused expression replaced itself with one of disgust as the slug slowly wormed its way into Kenju's head. Peering harder with her Bayakugan, Hinata watched the slug worm its way fully into Kenju's skull and wrap itself around his brain.

Kenju smiled to himself in relief as Aftran turned his body to the "exit section" of the Hone Reikyuu, walked through the bone wall… and bumped into Hyuuga Hinata, Bayakugan active and wide eyes focused on Kenju's forehead. Neither she nor they moved as the implications of the situation sank in.

(Oh no, oh gods NO!) Aftran screeched as panic enveloped both her and Kenju's separate minds. (This is bad; I think she can see me Kenju! We're going to have to tell her everything if she can! You've got to convince her to not tell anyone about me, nobody will believe that you're a voluntary host, they'll chakra scalpel me right out of your head!)

Hinata stared in shock at Kenju's head as gray chakra raced across the slug covering Kenju's brain. Apparently the two were conversing or something, but what _was_ that thing?

"K-Kenju-san, what's that thing inside your head?" Hinata asked, mentally gasping as chakra moved from the slug's body, instead of Kenju's brain, to his vocal cords.

"Damn, so you _can_ see me. Guess there's no way around it then…" Kenju's voice said

Hinata backed up rapidly, convinced that Kenju, or that thing in his head was about to kill her to keep her quiet. Kenju noticed this and held out his hand, his face frozen in a pleading expression.

"No, Hinata-san, don't leave; I'll explain!" Kenju cried out. Hinata stopped retreating and looked towards Kenju with discomfort, focusing on his forehead.

(She won't believe a word I say to her, I'll have to leave you so you can speak to her yourself.) Aftran unnecessarily pointed out to Kenju as she detached from his brain and started her journey through his ear canal. Once she had dribbled out of his ear and into his hand Kenju created a cage of bone around his hand and forearm protectively. He would _not_ let some little kid squish her like a slug.

"Alright Hinata-chan, I'll explain everything to you…"

XXXXXXXX – Ten minutes later - XXXXXXXX

"…and I've been Aftran's host for about a month now." Kenju finished his lengthy explanation of Aftran, the Yeerks, and what it meant to be a host to one. Hinata just stared at Kenju in shock, shock and disbelief.

"S-so Kenju-san, you've been letting this…Yeerk... to control your body for over a month? Why would you d-d-do something l-like that?" Kenju looked very uncomfortable by this point, and stared back at his bone-encased hand.

"I-I'd rather let Aftran explain…" he whispered as he retracted the bone protection from around his hand. Hinata watched as Kenju lifted Aftran to his ear. She was astonished when a peaceful, almost happy expression covered Kenju's face as Aftran slowly wormed her way back into Kenju's head.

((I think I've convinced her to not tell anyone, but you'll need to tell her why I became a host for you voluntarily.)) Kenju mentally smiled as Aftran looked towards Hinata and took a deep breath.

"Okay Hinata-san, this is Aftran talking now. Kenju says that he wants me to explain why he became my host, and I assume you want to know as well." Hinata nodded, she did want to know, badly.

"Kenju is tired, tired of his life. He's always been watched and pressured to develop his bloodline, to be a jounin – even at his age – and to take on a sub-genin team of his own. He doesn't want that, he doesn't like how his life has shaped up, but neither does he wish to leave. When he found, and saved, me he became my host and I gained control of his life. Now I have a life, something I've always wanted, and he doesn't always have to deal with the stresses of his life. It's a win-win situation for us both, lots of people could benefit from a bond like this, but they wouldn't want to share their bodies with parasites like me." It was eerie to hear Kenju's voice, for it was undoubtedly his, calmly referring to himself and his life in the third person.

"S-so you're both helping the other and benefiting from it?" Hinata murmured to herself, slowly reaching inside of her kimono to grab something that had nestled inside her pocket. Aftran-Kenju watched, openmouthed, as Hinata retrieved a struggling Yeerk from her pocket.

"I found him by the river yesterday and I didn't know what he was. Then I saw your chakra in the cave and came to i-investigate today." Hinata looked at Aftran-Kenju's shocked face and suddenly inferred "this is another Yeerk?" Aftran nodded Kenju's head and answered in affirmation.

"So it will definitely need a host in order to survive?" Hinata paused, "y-you both are benefitting from this…arrangement?" when Aftran-Kenju nodded hesitantly Hinata's face scrunched up in concentration before clearing.

"T-then I w-will too!" Before Aftran-Kenju could stop her Hinata brought the writhing Yeerk to her right ear and held it there. As the Yeerk noticed the available ear in front of it and began forcing its way inside Hinata's head the girl cried out softly in pain. The Yeerk didn't hesitate and kept pulling itself into the waiting girl. Hinata tilted her head much in the same manner that Kenju had when Aftran infested him due to thrown off balance.

As the last of the Yeerk disappeared into Hinata's head the girl shuddered violently. Then her face took on an amazed expression and she began to look her body over in shock. Murmuring things like "amazing" and "unbelievable" the Yeerk began looking about the surrounding area and noticed Aftran-Kenju.

"You… you convinced this girl to become my host?" the Yeerk asked as it walked Hinata's body slowly and unsteadily forward. "Illarm 978, nice to meet you" Hinata extended a hand to Aftran-Kenju who shook it.

"And, you are?" Illarm inquired politely, with Hinata's voice, of the person standing before her.

"Our name is Kaguya Aftran-Kenju and we are Symbiotes" Aftran stated with pride. "However, before we proceed further in our discussion I must know how Hyuuga Hinata feels about her current position as a host. Be warned Illarm, if she is involuntary you _will_ leave her body and wait for another host."

Hurt by the insinuation that she would be a ruthless parasite, Illarm opened her consciousness to touch Hinata's. Immediately a wave of panic and helplessness engulfed Illarm and she noted with regret that her host had been voluntary, but hadn't known about the shock of losing control of her body. She spoke to Hinata with resignation.

(Damn, an involuntary. Listen, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll leave now and give you control again. Just, could you give me a little chakra so that I can survive for a few days alone?)

Hinata, shy, timid Hinata reacted in shock when Illarm offered to leave just because she had made Hinata uncomfortable by taking control. She almost agreed to let Illarm leave when a thought crossed her mind. _What would Naruto-kun do?_

Immediately she knew what her crush would do and so Hyuuga Hinata bravely crossed the point of no return.

((No, it's alright.)) When Illarm radiated confusion Hinata clarified, ((Stay inside me, Illarm-san))

Illarm's mind reeled in confusion as her host went from a panicked involuntary to a determined voluntary in the span of about five seconds. Determined to find the reason for the change Illarm hurriedly dug into Hinata's memory.

(Who's this "Naruto-kun" who influenced you?) When Hinata radiated palpable embarrassment in response Illarm dug deeper into her host's mind for an answer. Upon finding it she began giggling hysterically. (Oh ho! You've got a crush on this "Naruto-kun." Am I right?)

Hinata's shock, embarrassment, and silence provided all the answer Illarm needed. Digging even more thoroughly into Hinata's memories Illarm finally discovered the real reason that Hinata had decided to become a host.

(You wanted to be my host so that I'd help you win your Naruto-kun's love? Well, I won't) Illarm mentally smirked as Hinata despaired. (Until you show me an image of him and he passes my inspection, that is.) Fear coursed through Hinata's mind as Illarm rummaged around her memories for an image of the object of Hinata's affection. Upon finding the appropriate image Illarm practically squealed.

(Kawaii! You picked a real cutie Hinata-chan.) Illarm giggled so hard that they crossed the thought-speech communication and spilled out of Hinata's mouth. This unprovoked outburst earned raised eyebrows from Aftran-Kenju.

"Um, Illarm? We're still waiting for an answer; how does Hinata feel about this arrangement?" Hinata's eyes snapped up to lock onto Kenju's and her face radiated an impressive shade of scarlet.

"Sorry; just talking to Hinata-chan. Well, here goes; Hinata-chan is totally voluntary – though she panicked initially – but wants my help in winning the heart of her crush in exchange for me lodging inside her head." When Hinata began to exude embarrassment in waves, Illarm explained, (Look, I didn't tell them who it is, so our secret's safe. They'd never guess that your crush's name is-)

"Uzumaki Naruto right?" Aftran-Kenju smirked as Illarm and Hinata gaped like a fish, and jointly challenged the laws of reality to create an even more spectacular shade of vermillion. After ten seconds reality lost.

"H-h-h-how?" Illarm-Hinata sputtered while they glowed an iridescent red.

"Oh please, it's so obvious Illarm. If you look at how she's reacted to him in the past you'll agree." Aftran-Kenju smiled, trying not to laugh. "Well, anyway, you should probably get back to 'your' team to avoid suspicion. I'll join you."

And with that, Kaguya Aftran-Kenju and Hyuuga Illarm-Hinata retraced their steps and exited the cave. Upon finding Hinata's team Aftran-Kenju explained that Hinata had gotten lost in the caves and had, by freak coincidence, run into Kenju. Hinata's sensei, Ado, thanked Kenju profusely. In fact, Aftran-Kenju finally had to cut him off in order to dispel an impending migraine.

"Seriously Kenju-san, you have no idea how much I've been panicking; I swore under oath to protect these guys and I let them out of my sight for 5 minutes only to-"

"Ado-san"

"- find her missing… what?"

Aftran-Kenju smirked knowingly. Ado abruptly leaned forward, devoting his attention to the young boy standing before him.

"Shut up." Aftran-Kenju laughed as Ado tripped forward and collapsed face first onto the grassy training field.

"Teme!" Ado mumbled as he rose. Suddenly he smirked and cut a seemingly invisible line.

Aftran-Kenju paled and crouched down as a wave of kunai flew overhead. Their expression grew even more panicked as the sound of lines being severed reached the ears of everyone in the clearing. As dozens of Shuriken, Kunai, and Fuuma Shuriken bore down upon Aftran-Kenju they formed a Hebi handsign.

"Hone Reikyuu!" Ado's eyes widened as large bones erupted from Kenju's arms, legs, and ribs and wrapped around Kenju's body while merging together into one continuous cocoon. Metal clattered, bouncing, uselessly against the defensive jutsu, which began growing outward until it resembled a large sphere. As the last of the giant pointy metal wave finally ricocheted away from the sphere Kenju began laughing in delight.

((It works! It really works!!)) Kenju jubilantly proclaimed to Aftran as the Yeerk sighed in relief. Though great for meditation, the Bone Casket had never been attempted as a defensive maneuver on the grounds that its reliability had not yet been tested. Had it not held under the merciless bombardment Aftran-Kenju would have been reduced to diced meat.

(Thank the gods that it did, or we'd be dead. Kenju, this could be a great jutsu for us to use, but we should not assume that it will always work) Aftran lectured to Kenju before diverting her attention to controlling Kenju's body.

Kijaan Ado gaped. No, scratch that, his jaw was aching from its rapid trip towards the ground. Re-hinging his jaw, Ado hesitantly approached the sphere of bone and rapped his knuckles on his right hand against it. Immediately the entire construct began to melt away, drawn back into Kenju's body, to reveal a panting Kenju with shredded sleeves on his shirt and gaping holes in the knees of his pants. His gait was unsteady as he stood and walked towards an uneasy Ado.

"Okay Ado-teme, listen carefully now…NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!" Ado rapidly backpedaled towards his sub-genin team, perhaps intent on using them as cover, as he retreated from the raging Kaguya. Aftran-Kenju simply turned and walked away grumbling.

As soon as Kenju had vanished from sight, Naruto began bouncing energetically.

"Wow! That was awesome! Hey Ado-sensei can ya teach us that jutsu? Huh? Can ya?"

His abrupt bouncing was brought to a halt as Hinata began speaking calmly.

"Naruto-kun, I think that was bloodline ability, you can't learn that." Naruto crashed to the ground as his face went from hopeful to despairing. "Besides, Ado-sensei probably has some even cooler jutsu for us to learn."

Ado, who had finally gotten his nerve back, shakily chuckled "W-well, let's get going back to training, shall we?" And with that the incident was forgotten…or so it seemed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Present Day

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ado frowned to himself as Hinata smiled, starry-eyed, at Naruto as they both continued their trek across the river. When they reached the other side Ado jogged over to his team.

"Good job, all of you. That's enough for today, we'll be continuing tomorrow."

Ado continued to observe his team as they dispersed, Shino to his clan grounds, Naruto and Hinata to one of the nearby training grounds. Raising an eyebrow, Ado coughed to get the attention of his students. "I said that was enough training for today, what are you doing?"

"I'm not tired yet, so I'm going to train some more!" Naruto proclaimed exuberantly

"I don't have much chakra left, so I'm just going to watch Naruto-kun train" Hinata murmured, abashed. Ado frowned; a sub-genin like Naruto shouldn't have any chakra left after the intense training he'd been put through.

"Naruto, focus as much chakra as you can into your stomach, and then release it all at once. I want to see how much chakra you have." Ado focused his vision on his young pupil as a blue haze settled around Naruto. _So much! How can he have that much chakra?_ In a slight panic Ado hastily opened his mouth. "Naruto, stop, that's enou-"

Ado found himself cut short as a massive wave of blue chakra radiated in layers from Naruto. Wave after wave of energy rippled across skin, dissipated against trees and rocks, and finally ceased as the inordate stream of chakra at last ground to a halt.

Ado gaped, mouth working soundlessly, at Naruto who didn't even seem winded by his superhuman feat. As he caught sight of his sensei's shocked expression Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head with one hand.

"Heh, I think I overdid it" Naruto chuckled as Ado's mouth continued to gape like a fish. Nobody could possibly have that much chakra at Naruto's age. As Ado began to frantically think that Naruto was an imposter, a giant explosion of smoke originated from the main campground.

"Okay, that's our cue to get back to camp for an assignment guys" Ado called. Turning back to camp Ado, Naruto, and "Hinata" hurried off. Unseen by them, two other figures leaped off of the nearby rock face and followed them.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Leader

XXXXXXXXXX

Nobody in his presence would dare to speak. To speak would mean his…displeasure …and nobody liked Uchiha Itachi's displeasure. This man radiated power, calculated calm, and he practically oozed an aura of "go away." At first glance Itachi would be a woman's dream come true; the strong, silent, tragic, mysterious type. That would be until they learned of his past.

XXXXXXXXXX

Flashback no Jutsu

XXXXXXXXXX

ANBU Captain at age thirteen, Itachi had been called to the Village Elders to receive a…special mission. That mission had been to destroy the Uchiha Clan, Itachi's family, in order to prevent an imminent coup d' etat. Confused and angry Itachi had wandered his family's personal training grounds, convinced that the elders were lying to him. That is, he'd been convinced until his "friend" Uchiha Sishui had appeared and shattered Itachi's heart.

"Hey, Itachi, listen there's something you need to know; tomorrow will be the end of the Hokage." Sishui spoke with such excitement that Itachi almost blanched. He kept his face carefully emotionless, however, giving no outward sign of the turmoil that raged inside his mind.

"What do you mean Sishui?"

"You mean you don't know? Our clan is staging a coup to take over this pathetic village; the time has come for the Uchiha clan to take its rightful place as the leaders of Konoha!" Sishui spoke with such scorn when he described Konoha, and such condescension when he spoke of the clan that Itachi's turmoil ceased, replaced with a brutally cold mindset.

"Sishui, even if this coup is successful, you will never take over the village." With that Itachi began forming handsigns at a pace comparable to the speed of lightning.

"What? Why you-!" Sishui never got to finish his exclamation before a burst of concentrated azure flames burst from Itachi's sword, wreathing the blade in raging blue, and smote Sishui across the chest. Sishui fell, first one half and then the other.

"I'd have never thought you could betray the village Sishui, but now you've also doomed your clan!" Itachi hissed. Then he threw his head back and howled in pain and grief as his eyes burned from onyx to blood red, the Sharingan. Then the black tomoe began to melt around to form a triangular pinwheel, the Mangekyou of Betrayal, before the red of his eye began to bleed to a bright blue. Tears ran in streaks from Itachi's eyes as he angrily grated, "I will complete the mission!"

That night the Uchiha gardens were watered with blood and screams rent the air. Itachi spared no man woman or child as he butchered his way to his parents. He confronted them, accusing them of leading the coup. His mother was horrified.

"How could you believe that our clan would do something like that?" She asked in despair

"He could believe it because it's true my dear!" Uchiha Fukasu sneered before turning his gaze upon her, his eyes bleeding to the red-black of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"You were never supposed to have known, I would have been the King of Konoha and you would have been my…first victim!" As his wife gasped in horror Fukasu barked out "Tsuykuomi!"

Itachi watched in a mute rage as his mother stood rigidly before gasping in anguish and collapsing. A veil of red mixed with swirls of azure descended over the world as Itachi's mind suddenly perceived a terrible truth. Without even realizing it, Itachi's eyes shifted from blood red to azure blue and he let out a terrible scream of agony. Fukasu turned back to his son and gasped in terror as he caught sight of Itachi's Azure Sharingan. Before he could even move, Itachi's eyes again shifted – this time to the same shape that Fukasu's own eyes had taken, that of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Azure eyes stared into blood red, and Itachi's killing intent suddenly slammed down on Fukasu with all the power of a meteor strike. Unable to tear his eyes away, Uchiha Fukasu fell to his knees in mute terror at his eldest son's feet. Itachi's eyes focused horribly upon Fukasu.

"H-h-h-how?" Fukasu whimpered

Itachi, with tears streaming down his face, merely spoke in a whisper. "Our true name has been found and we are now as ONE!!" His words rang with power, echoing throughout the room and reverberating off the blood-spattered walls. Fukasu's last thought was of regret as his son stood above him. The last word Fukasu ever heard was that of Itachi's true name. Fukasu's last sight was a swirling effigy of radiant power reaching towards him, beckoning him to eternal sleep.

The next day the Elders turned on Itachi, declaring him a traitor and forcing him to flee Konoha. He took up refuge in the forest, eventually creating the camp that the outcasts now resided in.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kai!

XXXXXXXXXX

Massive Time skip!!

Itachi's tent

Seven Years Later

XXXXXXXXXX

Four young ninja stood before Uchiha Itachi. He'd called for all of them to appear after they'd all become Genin. On one side stood Uzumaki Naruto – now a strong, vivacious twelve year old ninja – Hyuuga Hinata – calm and composed, yet still sneaking glances at Naruto – and Aburame Shino – carrying numerous scrolls containing his various broods of Kikai bugs inside them. Beside them stood Kaguya Kenju – a fifteen year old ninja with incredible defensive techniques.

After letting them all sweat for a little, Itachi spoke "Good job to all of you for making Genin. Normally I'd assign you to two teams of two in this situation, but due to your different skills and the way you all seem to work well together I've decided to keep you in one four person team. Seeing how this is unusual, and somewhat dangerous I've decided to give you each something specific that will help you specifically." Itachi withdrew a scroll from his pocket and activated it.

"First, Shino; this is a scroll that can hold other summoning scrolls. It'll help you in your summoning speed." Itachi then withdrew from his pockets two arm wraps and a pair of glass-clear crystals.

"For Hinata, I've got these chakra-storing bands to help you store energy for your taijutsu, you can store about a week's worth of chakra in each, and as a bonus they absorb chakra from outside sources as well" Itachi paused before turning to Naruto.

"Naruto, I want you to hold this crystal and avoid channeling chakra into it. I need to test something." Naruto held the crystal and gasped as it began to glow red. "Let go!" Itachi ordered, and Naruto dropped the crystal. Kenju hastily dived to catch it.

"Good catch Kenju, one of the crystals is actually for you, but I needed to test Naruto's chakra first. These crystals can store a nearly limitless amount of chakra; however much you want to put into them will fit. Do whatever you want with them, but don't kill yourself."

"Hey Itachi-sama, what about me?" Naruto whined. Aftran-Kenju winced at the lack of respect given to the encampment leader, despite the –Sama suffix. Itachi smirked wryly in amusement.

"Naruto, your gift will be access to a nearly limitless power. However, you are not yet ready for this power so I've decided to give you the other crystal for now. Once you have finally proved yourself worthy of the power I will tell you all about it." Itachi sighed to himself; he'd been hoping that his information was flawed, but the red chakra clinched it – the boy was a jinkurichi.

"Alright, Naruto and Shino are dismissed. Kenju, Hinata, I need to talk to you." As Naruto and Shino exited, the tent flap swinging shut after them, Itachi rounded on Aftran-Kenju and Illarm-Hinata. "Alright, I don't know who you are, but I know that you're not Kenju or Hinata, so drop the henges now!" When neither complied, Itachi closed his eyes and murmured an indecipherable word. He opened his eyes and the two Genin gasped upon seeing Itachi's Azure Sharingan. After a second Itachi's eyes bled back to onyx and he looked confused.

"You…you're not imposters? Then what are you?" Itachi murmured to himself in trepidation. Aftran-Kenju stepped forward.

"We are the first symbiotes and they" here Aftran-Kenju pointed at Illarm-Hinata "Are the second symbiotes." At Itachi's confused expression Aftran-Kenju sighed. "I am Aftran, a Yeerk, and Kenju is my host. Together we are Kaguya Aftran-Kenju. Aftran controls our body and Kenju helps with planning, thinking, and occasionally takes control if necessary." Itachi's expression remained unreadable as Aftran-Kenju proceeded to spill their guts regarding Yeerks, hosting, and the benefits of symbiosis. After they had finished explaining Itachi spoke.

"Aftran, in order to verify this, show your true self." At the sight of Aftran-Kenju's panicked expression Itachi sighed, "I promise not to hurt you"

Kenju's body sagged and collapsed limply. Itachi watched in disbelief as Aftran slowly wormed her way out of Kenju's right ear. As soon as Aftran had finally disengaged from his ear Kenju held out his hand and caught Aftran. As before, Kenju created a solid cage of bone around his forearm. Kenju lifted his head jerkily and fixed rapidly blinking eyes on Itachi.

"I-I-Itachi-sama, you-you w-want m-me to verify what Aftran-chan has told y-you? B-b-b-because everything she said is true; I a-a-am a voluntary h-host, w-w-we are symbiotes, and I am h-h-happy this w-way." Kenju's voice stuttered and hesitated as if he was not used to speaking for himself, or even being in total control for extended amounts of time. Which, of course, he wasn't.

"You are voluntary? How…interesting" Itachi marveled at Kenju, impressed that one so young would give up his freedom to give another being the opportunity to see. "It seems that you will make a fine ninja. Now, cast Aftran aside and take your rightful place among our ninja!"

Kenju's eyes widened, "Never! I…I couldn't leave Aftran-chan behind after everything she's done for me!" Before Itachi could do anything, Kenju removed his bone protection from Aftran and brought her back to his ear, letting her crawl back into his head.

Itachi smirked, "Well done Kenju, you pass." Itachi's face quickly deadpanned as Kenju hurriedly looked back up at him while the last of Aftran's body sluuuurped back into Kenju's head. Kenju twitched briefly before rising to his feet again.

"Aftran again, I assume" Itachi greeted. Aftran-Kenju simply grunted before curtly turning and leaving the tent. Illarm-Hinata simply stated their name to Itachi before following Aftran-Kenju. Itachi sighed to himself. Things had just gotten much more complicated.


	3. Chapter 3

Those Cast Aside

Chapter 3

The Mission

Four shadows streaked through the trees of Konoha Forest following a seemingly random path full of backtracks, switchbacks, and abrupt turns. Behind them trailed a fifth shadow, tracing their path perfectly. Apparently sensing the fifth's presence, the four shadows burst into a clearing and split off in four different directions. As the fifth shadow entered the clearing multiple clouds of darkness detached themselves from the surrounding trees and hurled towards the shadow.

Kijaan Ado swore as multiple broods of Shino's kikai bore down upon him from every direction. He quickly grabbed a satchel from his hip-belt and threw it at the ground. A giant plume of smoke erupted from the ground at Ado's feet and obscured him from view.

Illarm-Hinata smirked as they activated their Bayakugan to peer through the smoke. They easily saw Ado frantically setting up traps that involved nets and paralyzing gas. It was painfully obvious that he wasn't fully prepared to deal with any more than two of Shino's broods. Hinata murmured a suggestion to Illarm who agreed and flared a bit of chakra to draw Aftran-Kenju and Naruto to herself. Once the two had approached Illarm-Hinata began laying out the plan that they'd concocted.

"Kenju-kun, you need to join up with Shino-kun and try to keep Ado-sensei occupied. N-Naruto-kun and I will attack from his blindside and catch him by surprise. Kenju-kun, you also need to keep Shino-kun protected from Ado-sensei's jutsu; Shino-kun isn't too good at dodging after all." Naruto and Kenju nodded before Kenju leapt onto a thin branch near the crown of the tree they had conversed on and used it to catapult himself into the sky above his sensei, laughing giddily the whole way.

Naruto and Hinata quickly maneuvered themselves so that they faced Ado's back while he drew out a pair of partially opened windmill shuriken and tried to bat the huge numbers of kikai away from him. Naruto grinned as a swarm of kikai easily dismantled the multiple traps that Ado had set up for defense while Ado was occupied.

Ado gritted his teeth in frustration and jumped straight up, hurling his windmill shuriken in the general direction of Shino's chakra signature and began forming handsigns. He smirked as he formed the last three signs, but grunted in pain as he was hit from above.

"Hawk Talon!" Kenju yelled as he crashed into Ado from above with reinforced feet. The Jounin yelped in indignation as Kenju used him as leverage to soar skyward again. At the same time he drove Ado downwards… right into the waiting Naruto and Hinata.

Ado suppressed a snarl as his taijutsu was put to the test against two genin who worked seamlessly together. As he tried to attack Hinata he'd have to deal with Naruto blocking the blow, and whenever he tried to use a jutsu Hinata would simply start up a Kaiten to defend against it. He began to get frustrated.

Meanwhile Kenju was twisting his body in midair to face down towards the ground. A blue glow emanated from his right wrist as bones began to sprout from his arms and face. Wing-like protrusions and a reinforced beak of bone allowed Kenju to dive towards the ground with extreme speed and accuracy. As a bonus, the hollows and depressions in his "wings" created a howling sound as he careened through the air that mimicked the attack screech of a raptor.

"Falcon Pact!" He shouted as he crashed into the ground with explosive force. The resulting shockwave knocked Ado, Naruto, and Hinata off their feet. As Hinata, Naruto, Kenju, and Ado rose Shino finally reached them. Ado glowered angrily as Kenju dusted himself off and discarded the remaining bone fragments from his arms. He'd landed five feet to the left of Ado's head.

"Damn that was tough on my chakra!" Kenju whistled, "I had to use my Gemheart for that move." Ado marched forward towards Kenju and began speaking.

"How the hell could you be holding the Gemheart and dive out of the sky at the same time without breaking it? And why would you use that for one move?" Ado had carefully explained to Naruto and Kenju that the Gemheart, the chakra crystals given to them by Itachi, should be used to bolster their chakra in battle only. That was a week ago.

Ado sighed as Kenju simply smirked at him. "Kenju-baka let me see your Gemheart." Kenju held out his right arm.

Skin peeled off of his upper arm to reveal a hidden compartment in his arm bones. Kenju carefully extracted his Gemheart from the compartment and displayed it to Ado. The jewel glowed a deep sapphire color as numerous wisps of chakra swirled inside it. Hinata stared, Shino raised an eyebrow, and Naruto looked bored.

"That's nothing!" Naruto exclaimed, "Look at mine!" Naruto pulled out his Gemheart, which shone with a rich, dark purple. Coils of blue chakra and lengthy strings of ruby red energy caressed the heart of Naruto's Gemheart. A steady weight fell upon the group as the immense amount of stored chakra seemed to press down on the very air around it. Aftran gasped inside Kenju's head.

(That chakra! There's no end to it!) Aftran stated in awe, (There's easily ten times more chakra in that Gemheart than there is in ours)

((That's insane! It's as if he's gathering chakra from the trees and plants around him- wait is that even possible?))

(Of course not! I don't think that trees even have chakra, we could ask Illarm-Hinata and I'll bet that they'll say no.)

"Hey Hinata-chan, do trees have chakra?" Kenju asked. Hinata looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Of course they have chakra Kenju-san, that's how I filled up my armbands in one hour! Trees have hundreds of times more chakra than humans."

((I guess that answers that Aftran-chan. Maybe we should begin to assimilate the chakra of the plants of the forest to augment our own.)) Aftran agreed with the idea.

As Ado congratulated his team on passing the day's exercise a plume of smoke exploded from the air. Itachi stepped out of the smoke and said the five words guaranteed to excite the entire team.

"You have a new mission."

XXXXXXXXXX

Leader's Tent

Five minutes later

XXXXXXXXXX

"Team; your mission is to be your first A-rank. Once you pass this mission you will be eligible for the Chunin examination next month. This mission involves the assassination of a certain individual." At the looks of shock and horror on the faces of Hinata and Naruto Itachi sighed.

"Yes, your mission is to kill someone – get over it. Your client is Momochi Zabuza formerly of Kiri, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He'll explain the mission parameters to you once you are all ready to go. You will meet him outside of the camp's north entrance."

As Kenju, Naruto, Hinata, and Shino disappeared to pack, Ado turned to Itachi with concern. Itachi simply stared after the departing team.

"Itachi-sama are you sure about this? He's the Demon of the Hidden Mist; he might be too brutal in his methods."

"I'm sure." Itachi stated, "But to act as a safeguard I'll be accompanying you – from a distance of course."

"But still, his methods could break them! They're not ready for that kind of brutality."

Itachi turned to Ado and activated his Azure Sharingan.

"If that's what you think, you don't know Kenju"

Suddenly Ado was watching, as though video-taped, the battle between him and his genin. Everything was exactly the same…until Kenju attacked.

"Hawk Talon!" Wickedly curved talons ripped into Ado's shoulders, damaging them seriously. Ado watched as he collapsed violently to the ground, but Kenju wasn't finished.

"Falcon Pact!" Kenju dived out of the sky, wing-like protrusions howling with the wind as Kenju sneered.

"Oops…"

Suddenly Ado was back in the present, sweating and gasping, as Itachi's Sharingan faded away. Itachi reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of pictures. Handing them to Ado, Itachi stated, "These are missing-nin that Kenju personally…hunted."

Ado stared in mute shock as he read the names and ranks of the ninja as well as the methods they were killed with.

Oharra Haji; A Ranked Missing-nin, Kiri

Died from slit throat while sleeping; extreme stealth required.

Nallika Yaga; A Ranked Missing-nin, Kumo

Body unrecognizable except for head, horribly mutilated

Kunakakai Kamuela; B Ranked Missing-nin, Iwa

Died of blood loss from over 50 separate stab wounds

Amchitka Kaula; A Ranked Missing-nin, Kiri

Beheaded, arms removed (not necessarily in that order)

Molokai Sho; C Ranked Missing-nin, Iwa

Entire body bisected, disemboweled (not necessarily in that order)

Mizuki; B Ranked Missing-nin, Konoha

Head forcibly ripped off after being immobilized through severed tendons

Forbidden Jutsu Scroll returned to village gate along with body.

Ado continued to page through the pictures and reports, growing paler with each picture. Itachi fished around in his pocket again and came up with two Bingo Books.

"Here are his profiles."

Iwa Bingo Book

Kaguya Kenju

Age: Unknown

Height: Unknown

Blood Type: Unknown

Rank: Unknown (assumed A or S Rank)

Wanted: Alive

Reward: 150,000 ryo

Notable Information: Seems to enjoy killing missing-nin of various villages, has never been witnessed killing, leaves a spike of bone through the head of each victim as identification

Konoha Bingo Book

Kaguya Kenju

Age: Unknown

Height: Unknown

Blood Type: Unknown

Rank: Unknown (assumed S Rank)

Wanted: N/A

Note: Do not attempt to engage in combat, subject has defeated missing-nin from Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri; if subject is sighted flee immediately

Note: Killed Konoha missing-nin Mizuki and returned stolen Scroll of Forbidden Jutsu, motives unknown

"The hell?! How does he have an assumed S Ranking?" Ado exclaimed

"His clan, the Kaguya, thrived on bloodlust and battle. As the last known Kaguya survivor he strives to embody their fierce spirit. Hopefully this will remove your doubts; if any killing needs to be done Kenju will gladly be the one to do it."

XXXXXXXXXX

The North Gate

XXXXXXXXXX

Five ninja stood ready at the encampment gate and bid silent farewells to their home before heading outward into the forest. The path to the rendezvous point would leave the about five minutes from the camp.

As the location came into view…it suddenly faded away into a thickening mist. Before the group could react, the fog spread out and encompassed them. A voice issued from within the mist. It seemed to come from all directions at once.

"Eight points"

Kenju's face cleared of emotion while Hinata and Naruto began hurriedly scanning the fog. Ado looked apprehensive and Shino…well Shino was Shino.

"Heart"

"Neck"

"Jugular"

"Spine"

"Subclavian Artery"

"Liver"

"Lungs"

"Skull"

"Now, which will I attack?"

Zabuza smirked, he had them right where he wanted them; scared of his power and now realizing that he held their very lives in his hands. Just to layer a bit onto the lesson Zabuza began channeling killing intent towards the group of five ninja.

Kenju frowned when Naruto, Hinata, and even Shino seemed panicked by the killer intent that Zabuza – who else would it be? – had aimed at them. Ado simply looked a bit nervous, but he kept his composure.

"Sensei, may I deal with this opponent?" Ado sweat dropped, if Kenju "dealt with" Zabuza like he had dealt with the ninja in the pictures they would fail the mission.

"You can deal with him just…don't hurt him" Kenju nodded and vanished.

Zabuza frowned as one of the Genin in the group conversed with the Jounin sensei. Neither seemed to be affected by his killing intent, so Zabuza increased the flow. He smirked as two of the Genin fell to their knees and revisited their breakfast.

Suddenly the genin who still seemed to be immune to his killing intent vanished. Zabuza's eyes widened marginally as some killing intent was focused on him instead. The missing genin appeared right in front of Zabuza and stabbed his hand at him.

Zabuza lazily dodged out of range of the boy's hand, and swore when a spike of bone lanced out from the palm of the kid's hand. A Kaguya? Only then did Zabuza notice the twin marking dots above Kenju's eyebrows that confirmed his clan.

Kenju lunged forward with his right hand this time and impacted on the tree trunk as Zabuza leaped to another branch. Zabuza pulled out his head cleaver and glanced towards the rest of the kid's group. They hadn't moved. Suddenly the branch that Zabuza had alighted on broke under his weight.

Zabuza landed on another tree and returned his focus to Kenju. His eyes widened as the tree he had been standing on rapidly wilted. Branches sagged, leaves fell, and bark peeled off as the tree's very life-force was exhausted. What the hell?!

Suddenly Zabuza felt something poking into the back of his neck. He turned around to see Kenju with a bone spike casually resting on Zabuza's neck, lazily pressing on his jugular.

"Got you" Kenju smirked, "I enjoyed that Zabuza-sama, but I know you weren't really trying. I know you could kill me with minimal effort. All this aside, if we're through with this could we possibly get on with our mission assignment?"

Zabuza's eyebrows rose as he laughed, "Damn right I wasn't trying; otherwise I would've done…THIS!" Kenju stiffened as he felt the blade of Zabuza's head cleaver prick his neck.

The Zabuza in front of Kenju splashed into a puddle of water. Kenju whirled around to see another Zabuza sneering at him. Don't ask how he was sneering through the mask, he just was.

"That's called Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu kid. Any real ninja would know at least one type of solid Bunshin. You're not ready to take on anybody above an Academy Student."

Kenju bristled as Zabuza laughed and jumped down to greet aka terrify the rest of Kenju's team. Kenju followed, holding his head in mild pain. The pain had just started a minute ago, and Aftran's mind was roiling in confusion, embarrassment, and fear.

((Aftran-chan, what's happening? Why does my head feel like it's going to explode?))

Aftran burned with overwhelming embarrassment, but she didn't respond.

((Aftran-chan I know you're there. Tell me what's going on?)) Kenju said.

(I'm…well…I think…uh…I'm) Aftran couldn't even form a coherent thought

((Just spit it out!))

(I think I'm reproducing!) Aftran burst out, and then practically squirmed with something akin to shame.

Kenju just mentally gaped, then sputtered, ((How?))

(I never told you about that, did I?) Aftran moaned in frustration.

((No, you didn't tell me how Yeerks reproduce)) Kenju said.

(There are two ways; first three Yeerks could merge together to form a grub-sack. After a day the sack breaks open and hundreds of grubs are expelled. The parent Yeerks die in this instance.) Aftran physically shuddered inside Kenju's head

((And the other way?))

(You're going to flip about this,) Aftran squeaked, (If a Yeerk spends enough time inside a host they begin to assimilate their host's DNA. Human cell DNA encourages cell division-)

((Do you mean to tell me that you're going to basically clone yourself inside my head?))

Aftran mentally winced, (That's not all, the new Yeerk will contain both of our minds, or at least a portion of them. If that Yeerk infests another host we'll both have access to them as another host body, even if we would die in your body)

((So that means that Illarm will reproduce soon as well?))

Aftran-Kenju barely paid attention to Zabuza while he described the mission parameters, something about killing a bridge builder from Wave.

(No)

((No? Why not hasn't she been a host…oh no, you've got to be kidding me!))

(I'm afraid not, only female Yeerks with male hosts ever reproduce. The first time is involuntary, but after that I won't reproduce unless I so choose.)

Kenju laughed, almost hysterical, ((So basically, we need to find a new host for your…clone…and quickly or else you'll reproduce anyway and the new Yeerk will die from lack of chakra. At the same time you'll be going through the process of reproducing so that means that I'll have to be in total control for a few days?))

"Hey, Kenju-san, the meeting's over; we can leave now!" Hinata waved her hand in front of Kenju's face. Kenju jumped and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry Hinata-chan, I spaced out. Just listening to the voices in my head, you know?"

Hinata quickly whispered, "We'll talk about it later" as Ado ordered the group to move out towards their next destination; the ambush sight.

XXXXXXXXXX

That Night

XXXXXXXXXX

"Kenju, Hinata; you two have first watch. Naruto and I will take second watch. Zabuza-sama; you…do whatever you want."

"Damn right…" Zabuza grumbled as he set up two tents. Naruto noticed this and brought it to the group's attention in his own way.

"Hey no-brows! How come you're setting up two tents, do you keep your sword in another ten-" Naruto's voice died as Zabuza leveled his head cleaver at Naruto with one hand.

"If you ever mock me again, gaki, it'll be the last thing you do," Zabuza grated as he sheathed the blade. Once finished, he turned to a seemingly random tree and called out, "Haku, come out! They can be trusted…to a certain extent."

Everyone except Zabuza jumped as a youth wearing the mask of a hunter-nin landed in their midst. The ninja carefully removed their face mask to reveal a young teenage girl's face. She smiled uncertainly as her eyes darted around to observe the entire group.

"Hello, my name is Haku" Kenju nearly rolled his eyes out of pure duh!

"Hello Haku-chan, I am Hyuuga Hinata, this is Naruto-kun, this is Aburame Shino, the man over there is Ado-sensei, and that boy over there is-"

"Kaguya Kenju" Interrupted Kenju seamlessly, "It's nice to meet you Haku-chan"

"Likewise" Haku murmured while lowering her head. Kenju almost smirked when he noticed the blush that had spread over Haku's cheeks.

"Okay you two, stop flirting!" Zabuza sneered as both Kenju and Haku hurriedly looked at him, faces flushing crimson.

"We're not flirting!" Both of the teenagers shouted in unison, then they both blushed even deeper. Zabuza coughed.

"Whatever, Kenju and Hinata; get on watch! Everyone else go to sleep!" Everyone scurried to obey Zabuza and within moments Hinata and Kenju were left alone on lookout.

"So, Aftran-Kenju-san, what did you need to talk about?" Kenju winced momentarily, then his expression returned to neutral.

"Actually, it's just Kenju right now, and that's what I needed to tell you about."

"What? Why is Aftran not in control?" Illarm seized control of Hinata's body in an instant.

Kenju blushed and laughed, "She's…going to be reproducing."

Illarm-Hinata gaped as her cheeks flared crimson, then she pressed her hands tight to her mouth to stem the flow of giggles that threatened to spill out.

"I forgot about that! Hahahaha! Oh, Kenju, you're in for a world of- ahahahahaha! You'll probably find this experience…interesting. I don't think we can help- hahahahahaha!"

Kenju scowled, now was not the time for this. "This is serious! I need to find a host for the new Yeerk, and I can't use someone like Naruto, Shino, or Ado-sensei! If I do, Itachi-sama will kill me, Aftran, Illarm, and the new Yeerk. I know that Naruto would never consent to be a host, Shino wouldn't see the logic behind it, and Ado-sensei would never let an experiment of Orochimaru inside his head! Who does that leave?"

Hinata simply leaned over and whispered into Kenju's ear. Kenju just sat in place, shocked at the suggestion, while Illarm-Hinata giggled.

After three hours their shift was up, and the second shift relieved them. Hinata went to bed still giggling, while Kenju's slumber became a nightmarish jumble of confused thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Next Morning

XXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, here's the plan for today. The ninja team that will no doubt be escorting Tazuna need to be eliminated or at least disabled if we are to succeed. To this end; Ado and I will hang back and deal with the Jounin or ANBU while Haku and you lot will engage any Chunin or genin that are present." As he spoke Zabuza polished and buffed his head cleaver.

Six voices answered Zabuza's.

"Hai Zabuza-sama!"

Seven ninja disappeared into the morning forest.

XXXXXXXXXX

Seven pairs of eyes tracked the progress of one man who walked in the middle of a group of eight ninja. Seven pairs of ears picked up the subtle rustle of clothing as several of the genin moved into a formation that would better protect their client. Six ninja waited for the signal from Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

The first signal came in the form of Zabuza's head-cleaver as it whirled towards the group of ninja protecting Tazuna. As one, the entire group ducked low and avoided the giant blade as it sailed above them and impaled itself in a nearby tree. After only one second Zabuza landed on the blade.

"Momochi Zabuza" Both of the Konoha Jounin said in unison.

"Well, well, if it isn't the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi, and some crazy looking emo lady. I'll make this simple; hand over the old man."

"I have a name you eyebrow-less freak!" The woman screamed, "I'm Anko Mitarashi and there is no way we'll hand over Tazuna to you."

"Besides," continued Kakashi, "You're outnumbered two to one in terms of jounin, and don't think about counting our genin out of this fight either!"

Zabuza laughed in delight, "Kakashi, while I probably could kill you all by myself, I didn't come here alone!" At the verbal signal six other figures materialized via sunshin on other branches of the same tree that Zabuza's sword had stuck in. Kakashi's visible eye bulged for a moment while Anko flinched in shock. The six genin gasped as their numerical advantage evaporated.

Kakashi's eye flew over the new arrivals and he couldn't stop from gasping. Among the adversaries stood an Aburame, a Hyuuga girl, and…

"Naruto!" Kakashi exclaimed, "You're alive?"

"Alive and well, no thanks to Konoha" Naruto snapped back

"You've got no chance of convincing him to return Kakashi, he made his decision long ago, when the village offered him nothing," the black clad ninja said from his branch just to the left of Zabuza. "I don't know why he was treated like that, but I do know that he and the other members of my genin team have become a force to be reckoned with."

So that means that he's a jounin too, damn! Kakashi breathed out a sigh, "If we're facing two jounin right now; I'll need this!" And with that Kakashi lifted his headband and exposed his left eye; red and swirling with the three tomoe of the Sharingan.

"Nice try Kakashi!" Ado smirked, "But I'm already one step ahead!" A kunai cut three threads at Ado's eye level and released a storm of metal at the group.

"Get them!" Zabuza roared, and the battle was on.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura had initially gaped when the jounin had launched the wave of kunai and shuriken, but sighed in relief as Anko raised a wall of earth to deflect the weapons.

Suddenly a blur appeared in front of her and smashed her backwards about ten feet. As she groaned and pulled herself to her feet Sakura noticed the rest of the ninja from both sides engaged in combat.

Kiba had been surprised when Naruto had appeared right in front of him, but he had enough sense to duck the punch that barreled at his face. A foot suddenly dominated his field of vision and Kiba's world flickered with stars of pain. He looked up to see Naruto almost sneering at him.

"If this is how Konoha genin are trained then I'm glad I left. You're pitiful."

With a roar of rage Kiba surged to his feet and launched himself at Naruto, who calmly evaded or blocked Kiba's every attack. Kicks thrown at maximum speed by Kiba would simply be blocked by one of Naruto's arms that would appear in exactly the right position to defend himself. Kiba realized that, unless he could break Naruto's guard, he would definitely lose this fight.

Chouji gasped in pain as his entire right arm went numb. The Hyuuga girl had hit him with over a dozen strikes, all focused on that area. Damn! Now I can't even make handsigns!

Hinata calmly waited as Chouji tried to shake off the pain of her Juuken, before he gave up and blindly charged at her. Too easy! Hinata laughed to herself, then gasped as her entire body froze. What the hell?

It was then that she noticed through her Bayakugan a boy standing still while his shadow stretched unnaturally and connected with hers. Shifting her focus around she smiled when she saw how the battle was going. Now for this ninjutsu…

Shikamaru grunted in surprise as the girl caught in his shadow began to push large amounts of chakra out of her body in an effort to break the jutsu. Shikamaru began to increase his own chakra emission, but gasped and groaned as he felt pain in his neck and collapsed.

Haku smiled as her senbon pierced the Nara's neck. He wasn't dead, but his whole team would think he was, and that would bring about their defeat. She heard a shriek as a blond haired girl rushed to the boy's side. It's too late girl, you can't save him.

"Katon: Karyuu Enden!"

Haku's eyes widened as she leaped into the air to avoid the flaming serpent that roared through the space she had just occupied. Two red eyes suddenly met hers from a few feet away as Uchiha Sasuke appeared via sunshin. Before Haku could even form a handsign, Sasuke had grabbed her pouch of medicine and senbon and formed the handsign for a Kawimari. The log that he replaced himself with was shattered when Kenju appeared out of nowhere and heel drop kicked the log where Sasuke's shoulder blade had been.

Haku swore silently as the Uchiha made off with her weapons. She whipped her head around in time to see Kenju protrude dozens of needle-like spines from his left arm. With a swipe of his other hand Kenju snapped the spines off and held roughly three dozen perfect senbon in his hand.

"For you" he smiled oddly as he held out the senbon to Haku. Haku blushed furiously as she took the senbon and promptly launched three at the pink haired girl who had attempted to rejoin the fray. She dropped in the dirt.

A pained scream pierced the air, followed a moment later by a shout of anger and the sound of a body hitting wood. Kenju and Haku hurriedly turned to see Kijaan Ado pinned against a tree by Anko, who had dark, flame like patterned markings spreading across her body. Kenju gasped as Anko tossed Ado-sensei to the ground as if he had been made of straw.

"I have to help him!" Kenju shouted to himself, then jumped in surprise as a soft hand touched his shoulder. Turning his head, Kenju saw Haku staring at him with such determination that Kenju almost gasped.

"I'm coming too," Haku said, "Let's save your sensei!"

"Die! Just DIE!" Anko screamed in rage as she resumed her relentless Taijutsu assault.

Ado ducked a wheel kick, sidestepped a punch, and gasped in pain as Anko's follow up roundhouse kick struck him in the ribs. A moment later Anko's fist collided with Ado's face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Senbon needles clattered uselessly around Anko, deflected by the aura of chakra. Ado glanced up and saw Kenju and Haku diving out of the sky, Kenju covered in bone.

"Falcon Pact!" BOOM! Kenju crashed into the space Anko had been occupying a moment before. Shards of bone and rock exploded from the impact zone, as well as a giant cloud of debries. Anko screamed in shock and rage as the explosion blew her into the air.

"What the hell are you thinking you idiot?" Anko sneered, "You use some suicidal attack and miss! What did you hope to accomplish?"

"Falcon Wing!" Kenju burst from the smoke, a wing-shaped bone surrounding his right arm. Anko's eyes bulged as the wing smashed into the purple flames, which condensed in front of her for protection.

"Haku now!" Senbon struck Anko in the back of her neck and she collapsed limply.

"Kakashi, you might as well give up; you're all alone!" Zabuza sneered. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as he quickly glanced around to see all of his allies knocked unconscious. Senbon flashed from the trees and brought down Kakashi as well. Tazuna's last vision was that of a head-cleaving sword flashing towards his neck, then all went black.

"Our mission is a success," Zabuza crowed as he retrieved his sword. He reached for his headset and, activating it, proceeded to talk to Gato. After a moment Zabuza's eyes widened and his face darkened with anger. "You bastard!" he roared, crushing the headset in his hand. Shaking with rage, Zabuza called the rest of the team over.

"Gato's decided to betray us!" Zabuza hissed, "He's refused payment for the mission, and has tipped off the Kiri hunter-nin. If my suspicions are correct, they'll be here-"

"Now" All heads turned to see a team of four ninja wearing hunter-nin masks. Before anybody could move, however, another voice rang out.

"So, I suppose it was lucky that I decided to follow you," The hunter-nin stiffened as Uchiha Itachi appeared between the two groups. "Zabuza, you didn't mention that the hunter nin were still on your tail. We'll talk about that later."

"Come on Uchiha," one of the hunter-nin sneered, "you may have your fabled Sharingan, but even you can't defeat us all at once. And once we're done with you, we'll deal with Zabuza and those pathetic Konoha nin" Itachi closed his eyes, and let his killing intent fly.

"There is much you fail to understand" Itachi said softly before opening his eyes. The hunter-nin gasped as Itachi's eyes shone not red with the Sharingan, but deep azure blue. "Uzumaki no jutsu!" Chakra burst from Itachi's eyes and struck each of the enemy ninja. The hunter-nin froze, overcome by sheer killing intent. You see; Itachi had focused all of his killing intent solely into the ninja, instead of spreading it out over a wide area. The result was devastating, after less than half a minute the hunter-nin had all collapsed; killed by hearts stopping from sheer terror.

"Now, Zabuza, how exactly can you explain these hunter-nin to us? We were under the assumption that the mission was only to assassinate Tazuna, not to deal with trailing hunter-nin. If we'd known about them, the mission would have been S-Ranked. Considering the circumstances, I'm going to make you an offer that you can't refuse, because Kiri actually has five more hunter-nin teams after you personally."

"What's your offer?" Zabuza demanded, blatently refusing to answer Itachi's question.

"You and Haku will become ninja of my village. By accepting, you will be granted immunity from Kiri and you will be able to take less dangerous missions; thus increasing your expected life spans. I'm not sure that you want to join us, but if not we will be obligated to sent our own hunter-nin after you, and some of our hunters are stronger than you could ever dream. They would kill you from behind-"

"-While standing right in front of you" Zabuza and Haku both gasped and stiffened as two Itachi bunshins slid kunai to their throats. "We can easily track you down, unless you join us."

"We'll join" Zabuza said, "Better than getting our throats slit, I guess."

XXXXXXXXXX

One Week Later

XXXXXXXXXX

Upon their arrival in the village, Itachi had provided Zabuza and Haku with dwellings and ranks among the village ninja. Zabuza had been given the rank of Jounin, while Haku had been provided with the rank of Genin. When both of them had protested, Itachi admitted that Haku did posess skills far beyond even Chunin level, but that he could not justify entering Haku as a Chunin when she had not taken the Chunin exam, for the sake of the other genin in the village.

As such, Haku had been placed, to her embarrassment, on a team with Kenju. Zabuza had been assigned as their sensei, over his protests, because he seemed to already know the best way to train Haku, and that he and Kenju would…get along. The first training class had ended with Haku freezing Kenju and Zabuza to different trees to prevent them from killing each other in one of Zabuza's "skill examinations."

Haku smiled as she remembered that day; it had been very… interesting (not to mention embarrassing)

XXXXXXXXXX

Flashback no Jutsu!

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright gaki," Zabuza said, pointedly ignoring Kenju's glare, "I've devised a series of tests for you in order for me to assess your skills. First test: Taijutsu!" Zabuza had convienently chosen to hold their training near the river, so it took almost no effort for him to create a dozen Mizu Bunshin. After laughing at Kenju's surprised expression, Zabuza's clones charged.

((Aftran, give me control; I want to enjoy this!)) Kenju demanded. Aftran merely surrendered control without a word. "Dance of the Sky!" Spikes of bone protruded from Kenju's hands as he took his fighting stance.

"Let's go!" one of Zabuza's Mizu Bunshin taunted. Both he and Kenju leaped forward, swinging their weapons.

With a splatter of water and a gasp of pain, Kenju collapsed on one knee, blood pouring from his arm as the Bunshin collapsed into a puddle. Haku rushed to Kenju's side with bandages ready, but Kenju stood. Chakra burst from his right arm and targeted the large gash on his left arm. After only a few seconds, the skin on Kenju's left arm closed up, and the injury disappeared. Zabuza raised an "eyebrow" in surprise, and Haku simply stared.

"Hawk Talon!" Kenju shouted as he jumped and landed on one of Zabuza's Bunshin. He catapulted himself into the air as the Bunshin dissipated.

"Arial Bombardment!" Kenju writhed in mid-air, sprouting many spines of bone from his arms, legs, and body. As he descended, Kenju swung his arms and legs in great arcs and launched the bone shards at Zabuza and his Bunshin.

"Damnit!" Zabuza managed to get out of the way, but his Bunshin were reduced to puddles. As Zabuza landed ten meters away he unsheathed and brandished his head-cleaver, just in time to intercept a second volley of bones.

"Falcon Pact!" Kenju cried out as he reinforced his bones and dived straight downward, aimed at Zabuza. Zabuza again leaped to the side and hurled the giant blade at Kenju. Kenju grimaced, and shouted "Bone Casket!" He quickly encased himself in a sizable sphere of bone and caused the head-cleaver to glance off and crash into the ground. A moment later Kenju crashed into the ground, or rather the river. Zabuza appeared behind Kenju.

"It's over! Water Prison Jutsu!" Zabuza smirked and Kenju yelped in surprise as a sphere of water encased the genin. Kenju struggled, but could not break out of the iron-hard prison. Finally Kenju sagged and closed his eyes, signaling that he surrendered.

"Nice try kid, but my advice would be to NEVER leave yourself incapacitated after a move. That little stunt of yours would have cost you your life in a real fight, because your opponent won't just let you get back up!" Kenju bristled as Zabuza offered his assessment.

"So what would you have me do?" Kenju asked, "Shall I simply use a different odori when attacking somebody?" Zabuza simply nodded.

"Your style with those moves, it's too direct. You leave yourself way too much. If you attack, you aim to kill or cripple, not just to hit them. Smart opponents will take a minor hit, trap you, and unleash hell when you can't escape."

"I do happen to have two other odori that you haven't seen" Kenju smirked, but ducked as Zabuza swiped at him with his head-cleaver. Kenju swore and leaped back.

"Second test! Submission battle!" Zabuza cackled, "We fight until one of us gives up!"

Kenju barely had time to blink before Zabuza was all over him. Punching, kicking, and slashing, Zabuza methodically drove Kenju backwards. Kenju gritted his teeth and grabbed Zabuza's sword in one hand, suffering a massive cut, and Zabuza's leg with his other hand. Zabuza's eyes widened as Kenju leaped forward and landed a double kick right in his chest.

Chakra began gathering around Zabuza and he shouted, "Kirikagure no jutsu" before the entire river seemed to evaporate into mist and wrap around the two combatants and the surrounding field. Kenju hissed in frustration even as he healed his hand.

"Now, can you even anticipate where my attacks will come from?" Zabuza's voice rang out through the mist from all directions at once. Kenju frantically looked around, trying to see through the mist, when the flat of the head-cleaver bashed him in the back.

"Your eyes are no good right now, the only way to survive is to use your other senses!" Kenju blinked once before closing his eyes. He streached out his other senses and carefully turned around. A slight hissing sound caused Kenju to duck, just as Zabuza swung his sword in a horizontal strike. Kenju sighed in relief, then rolled to the side as Zabuza's foot crashed into the ground where he'd been.

"Not bad gaki, you're improving" Zabuza complimented as Kenju leaped away from another attack. Kenju's head whipped to face Zabuza, and he thrust his arms forward. A volley of ten bone-senbon launched from Kenju's fingertips and clattered harmlessly off Zabuza's lazily raised sword.

"But you've still got a long way to go!" Kenju gasped as another Zabuza grabbed him from behind. The first Zabuza hefted his sword and charged right at Kenju, who shot bones from his elbows and palms to destroy the Bunshin. Both fighters rushed towards each other, weapons raised as the mist faded…

In an instant, Haku appeared between Kenju and Zabuza, thrust a palm out to each side, and launched streams of ice at the two fighters. Kenju managed to bring up one arm to block, but he still found himself encased up to his neck in solid ice. He looked past Haku to see Zabuza frozen in the same manner, sword brought into a defensive position while frozen up to neck level.

"Stop!" Haku cried out, "That's enough, you two don't need to kill each other!"

"Tell that to Zabuza-sensei" hissed Kenju as he shivered in his icy prison. Haku looked at each of her teammates, and hesitantly released the ice prisons around them. Zabuza smirked.

"You pass for now gaki. I'm done for today, you two go flirt somewhere" Zabuza mentally laughed hysterically as Kenju and Haku both blushed before shouting, "It's not like that!"

Zabuza actually laughed out loud at that, "Right, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone for a while." Zabuza leaped up onto a tree branch and jumped off towards the village, leaving the two genin alone and embarrassed.

XXXXXXXXXX

End Flashback no Jutsu

XXXXXXXXXX

Haku suddenly noticed Kenju leaping through the treetops and heading towards the caves. He was holding his head with one hand, much like he'd been every day since the "examination." Frowning, Haku followed him.

Kenju passed by the caves near the village and streaked off into the forest. Haku increased her own speed, until Kenju came to a screeching halt by a pond in a small clearing.

Gripping his head in agony, Kenju tried his hardest to not cry out in pain as Aftran finally finished her cloning. The new Yeerk, named Uraaz, had tried to assume control of Kenju, but Aftran had informed him that if he did not leave, all three of them would die.

Kenju hissed in relief as Uraaz slipped out of his ear and into his hand. Pocketing the Yeerk, Kenju stood, turned, and noticed Haku standing thunderstruck a short distance away. Aftran and Kenju both screamed out in shock mentally, but Aftran also seized control in order to pacify Haku.

Haku, meanwhile, had just watched the boy she…well, her teammate double over in pain, before having what looked like a slug crawl out of his ear. She didn't know what to think, and her confusion only grew as Kenju stood and faced her.

"Haku, you saw everything?" Kenju questioned. Haku merely nodded, not yet ready to say anything. Kenju sighed, "Well then, I guess Kenju and I should explain. While you have been talking to and interacting with Kenju quite a bit during these past few days, you've also been talking to me. My name is Aftran 942, and I am a Yeerk."

Haku just stood there blankly as her cr…teammate began to act totally schitzophrenic.

"You look really confused, so I'll explain everything. A Yeerk is a slug like you saw crawling out of Kenju's ear. Normally they are blind, half deaf, and require constant chakra to survive. However, a Yeerk can bond with a human, who becomes the Yeerk's host, by crawling into their ear and spreading across the human's brain. From there the Yeerk can take control of their host at will, access their memories, and communicate with their host. Usually the Yeerk is willing to leave their host in control most of the time, since the host allows them to see and provides them with chakra. However, sometimes the Yeerk tries to dominate the host, something that is frowned upon by most of us. I can understand if you want to stay away from us, or if you hate Yeerks, but I think that first you should talk to Kenju – just Kenju." Haku watched in continuing shock as another Yeerk slowly crawled out of Kenju's ear, fell into Kenju's hand, and became encased in a bone cocoon. Kenju reflexively shook his head.

"Wow, even now that still feels weird. Well Haku-chan, I hope that you realize that I'm not being controlled against my will; Aftran and I are pretty much two voices in the same head by now."

"You, you actually chose to be controlled like that?" Haku asked in disbelief.

"Will you stay and listen to my reasoning?" Kenju asked in response.

"Um, I guess so"

"Good," Kenju said, "Simply put, I decided that I wanted to give Aftran a chance to experience human life and let her see. In exchange, I get control frequently, I have some privacy, and Aftran and I are good friends."

Haku just nodded silently

"Well, now I need to find a host for the new Yeerk, if I don't he'll die in a few hours," Kenju said, "I just need to find someone who'd willingly house a Yeerk within the next hour or so, convince them to become a host, and make sure that they'll be content like that…no pressure"

Haku kept staring, almost blankly

"Okay, now that you know about Aftran and all, I guess that covers it. I'm going to put Aftran back now, okay?"

"Okay…" Haku murmured. As Kenju returned Aftran to his ear Haku watched as her… teammate's expression went from indifferent to relieved to almost happy. Haku hurriedly looked away, her cheeks tinted pink.

Kenju twitched slightly as Aftran finally slipped into his head. His expression changed slightly and he said, "Alright Haku-chan, I'm going to see if I can find somebody who will be another host" As Kenju turned to leave, Haku spoke up.

"Kenju-kun, wait" Kenju turned back to face Haku

"Yes?"

"I-I know who would be the host for the new Yeerk"

Kenju's eyes widened, "Who?"

Haku fidgeted, "Me…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Haku-chan, are you sure about this? You don't have to become a host if you don't want to" Kenju asked cautiously. Haku smiled shyly and Kenju felt warmth bloom in his chest.

"Yes, I'm sure about this Kenju-kun" Haku said, "I think that you are right about your views of the Yeerks and that they deserve a chance. Besides, I…" Haku trailed off as a blush painted her cheeks. Kenju chuckled quietly to himself before grimacing in pain. The time would be now or never.

"Okay, if you're sure about this I'll give you a Yeerk now" Kenju said as he slightly shuddered. After a few moments Haku noticed a gray slug, which she assumed was the Yeerk, slowly crawling out of Kenju's right ear. Kenju easily caught the slug in his left hand, which he had placed just below his ear, and slowly extended his hand, offering the Yeerk to Haku.

Haku almost squirmed as she hesitantly took the Yeerk in her own hand. She stared intently, examining every aspect of the Yeerk. In a way she was disgusted by the thought that this thing would soon be squirming into her ear and wrapping around her brain because she would put it there! At the same time she understood that she had agreed to be a voluntary host for the Yeerk and how they would both benefit from it. She braced herself, grimaced briefly, and brought the Yeerk to her left ear.

The Yeerk carefully extended its palps and felt around in front of it for Haku's ear. Upon finding it, the Yeerk carefully began pulling itself towards the opening that led to Haku's ear canal. Haku felt pain and cried out, but the Yeerk sprayed some kind of painkiller and her ear went numb. Then Haku felt the Yeerk begin pushing itself through her ear canal, sliding further and further inside of her head. Suddenly the Yeerk touched her brain and Haku lost the ability to move her left arm.

With a gasp, Haku's right hand shot up and grabbed the part of the Yeerk's body that was still outside of her head to prevent it from going any farther. The Yeerk froze, and Kenju sucked in a breath of surprise. "Haku-chan, if you've changed your mind about this…" He trailed off.

Haku took a deep breath, "N-no, I'm fine. It just took me by surprise and I acted out of reflex." Haku gave a bracing, forced smile and released her grip on the Yeerk's lower body. As soon as its body was free of Haku's hand the Yeerk continued pulling itself into Haku's head. Once inside, the Yeerk carefully flattened its body out and spread over the rest of Haku's brain.

Haku's breathing became shallow and panicked as she lost more and more control. Finally the Yeerk assumed full control and her breathing settled, even though Haku was still panicking.

(Greetings Haku, I am Uraaz) the Yeerk greeted the terrified girl, (I apologize for causing you distress. I will explain everything to you shortly)

((No. NO! I can't move! I can't even blink! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! Help!))

((Haku-chan calm down!)) Kenju's voice suddenly cut through Haku's growing hysteria, ((I know what you're thinking, literally, and I went through similar feelings when I originally became a host. You'll get used to it, and Uraaz will give you control quite frequently.))

((Kenju-kun? How can you hear-)) Haku began thinking, but another voice cut her off.

(Your thoughts?) Aftran interjected, (Well, normally the host and the Yeerk share their own thoughts internally, but because of Orochimaru's experimenting we can form a collective mind with other hosts and Yeerks through mutual consent. Right now you haven't blocked yourself from us, and as Uraaz is a young Yeerk you probably shouldn't cut us off; Uraaz needs my help and-) Aftran stopped communicating as Kenju seamlessly picked up the thread of conversation.

((You and I could become the perfect team at the same time. Think about it; by reading each other's minds and by exerting mutual control over both of our bodies we could react easily to any threat!))

Haku and Uraaz both reacted in shock as Haku's right arm lifted and tapped Haku's forehead, Kenju continued, ((Yes, each of the four of us can control either of our bodies at will, or even both at once.)) Both Kenju and Haku held out their right hand and while a spike of bone protruded from Kenju's hand, a spike of ice protruded to the same length and thickness from Haku's hand.

((So you mean-)) Haku began

((-We're essentially four minds in two bodies?)) Kenju broke in perfectly

(Yes, the four of us collectively control two bodies) Aftran confirmed, (There shall be no secrets between us, all of our thoughts will be laid bare before each other!) Suddenly all four minds were able to read every thought that ran through any of their minds. Kenju was able to confirm Haku's affection for him. Haku learned of Kenju's horrific past. Uraaz learned of the Yeerk race from Aftran. Aftran, meanwhile, unleashed all of her knowledge of the Yeerks upon Kenju and Haku, as well as other pieces of information.

Facts strobed before four minds as thoughts raced between them. Yeerks were, in fact, aliens that had arrived several years ago. Their leader, Visser 3, had attempted to take over the whole human population by force, obtaining billions of hosts in the process. The "Andalite Bandits" that had rained havoc on the Visser's forces that were actually humans, a hawk nothlit, and Aximili the brother of Elfangor. Aftran had infested Cassie, one of the humans, and learned the secrets of the Animorphs. Aftran and five thousand Yeerks were shipped to Orochimaru, who had vowed to aid the Yeerks. Orochimaru had turned against them, experimented on the Yeerks, and discarded the survivors. Aftran lying alone in the forest, waiting for death, and a young Kenju finding her and becoming her voluntary host.

As the information ended and Kenju and Haku finally understood everything of the Yeerks, a hawk screeched overhead. Kenju and Haku stiffened at the same time, and looked up. To their surprise they saw a red-tailed hawk wheeling above the clearing. ((You don't think that could be…))((No, that would be impossible))

A twig snapped and Kenju-Haku whirled. Four people stood before them wearing ANBU masks. A tall male with brown hair wore a tiger mask. A shorter, dark skinned female stood at Tiger's side wearing a wolf mask. About ten feet away stood another female, wearing a bear mask with blond hair spilling over her shoulders. Finally, a male wearing what looked like a human mask, but upon closer inspection proved to be a gorilla, stood next to Bear. The red-tailed hawk landed in the tree above them.

((Okay, I take it back))(Obviously…)((Uraaz, don't harass-))(-Haku-chan.)

Aftran-Kenju spoke for them, "Hello strangers, we've never seen you around here before. I am Kaguya Kenju…"

"And I am Haku" Uraaz-Haku added, "What brings you to our forest?"

Tiger simply nodded slightly before all four of the "ninja" removed their masks. Aftran and Uraaz only just clamped down in control to prevent Kenju and Haku from screaming out in shock. The people before them were…

"I'm Jake" Tiger said

"Cassie" Wolf added

"Marco" Gorilla said

"Rachel" Bear smirked

(Tobias) the hawk broadcasted in thought-speech

"We're new to this area, having fled our homelands. We've come to warn you of an invasion of aliens that plan to take over your bodies against your will" Jake said, "They call themselves the Yeerks…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Jake! Why did you just come out and say that? What if they're Controllers?" Rachel moaned.

"Excuse me, but what's a Controller? I've never heard that term spoken before" Kenju stated. _And it's true; nobody has ever said the word "Controller" to me before_ Kenju thought with a mental smirk.

"A Controller is somebody with a Yeerk slug wrapped around their brain. The real person is helpless, while the Yeerk controls their every action. It's pretty evil, what they're doing."

Kenju and Haku took control, and made absolutely sure that no trace of anger lit their features while Aftran and Uraaz seethed with fury. Kenju became aware of an odd chakra source that was approaching them from behind, and the other three immediately learned of the same presence.

"If the person trying to sneak up behind us is a friend of yours he really needs to be stealthier, but if he's an enemy so much better for us" Kenju smirked as Jake and the others flinched. At the same time, Aftran subtly moved Haku forward so that Kenju would be closer to the approaching figure and Kenju began to harden a layer of bone under his skin. Aftran, at least, recognized the presence.

(No deaths, only incapacitation) Aftran ordered as she turned Kenju to look straight into the main eyes of Aximili. In absolute shock Kenju seized control and barked out "Andalite!"

It was possibly the worst thing he could have said.

XXXXXXXXXX

FWAPP! Aximili's tail blade flew through the air and chopped into Kenju's neck, but instead of severing Kenju's head from his shoulders the blade simply bounced off. Haku vanished into the nearby trees.

"They ARE Controllers!" Marco howled as the Animorphs began to morph into their battle animals.

Zip! Tobias fell from his perch, senbon protruding from the nerve clusters in his wings.

Zip! Marco collapsed in the dirt, two needles stuck in his neck.

FWAPP! Ax's tail deflected the next wave of senbon and cut each one in half.

Kenju growled as he noticed the changes, ((We've got to stop them before they morph! Haku, disable the humans; leave Aximili to me!)) Crouching momentarily Kenju gathered energy and leaped…right at Ax.

"Ax! Behind you-"Zip! Rachel dropped to her knees as senbon expertly blocked nerve transmission to her legs. Zip! Two senbon hit the nerve clusters at the base of her neck and Rachel screamed in pain and outrage.

"Rach-"Zip! Senbon immobilized Jake and Cassie at the same time. They crashed to the ground, unable to move.

FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP! Ax whipped his tail at Kenju three times. Each time his tail glanced off harmlessly. Kenju grinned and disappeared, only to reappear behind Cassie with a spike of bone protruding from his hand. The spike lazily prodded Cassie's neck and Ax froze.

Zip! Ax's tail fell limp as six senbon targeted his muscles, rendering him helpless.

"Okay, now that we've got your attention, you're going to listen" Haku said as she reappeared next to Ax. Ax hurriedly galloped towards his allies, not hesitating when Kenju vanished. The Animorphs struggled desperately.

"Relax; we're not going to have other Yeerks infest you involuntarily. We're not going to kill you. We're not going to tell the Visser about you."

"Why should we believe you, Yeerk?" Jake asked weakly, trying and failing to remove the senbon that had lodged in his shoulder.

"First off, this is actually Kenju talking right now. My Yeerk gives me control frequently enough that I've got no problem with being a host" Kenju stated calmly.

"Idiot, we know that you're still the one talking, Yeerk! We won't listen to any of your lies!" Marco snarled.

Kenju smiled humorously as Aftran began crawling out of his ear. Oh how the Animorphs would hate this. He lifted his hand and caught Aftran without effort. He kept smiling, "Satisfied? I'm totally voluntary. The Yeerks here mean us no harm, they only want to see; it's only the Vissers and the Council that are evil, and of the Vissers, only Vissers One, Two, Three, and Eight are evil."

Rachel laughed cruelly, angrily "We're supposed to believe the words of a voluntary Controller? You're even more of an idiot than Visser 3; and that takes effort!" Kenju smirked and vanished again.

In a moment he had appeared behind Cassie, grabbed her, and used a sunshin to move back to Haku with Cassie in his grasp. She squirmed in Kenju's grip as Jake shouted, "Let her go!"

"If you won't believe me now, maybe you'll believe me when Cassie confirms it!" Kenju continued smiling, which now seemed quite creepy, as he placed Aftran to Cassie's right ear. Cassie whimpered and tried to move away, but Kenju easily forced her to keep her head still. Aftran quickly slid herself inside Cassie's head and took control. Jake and Rachel continued to struggle against the senbon. Haku grimaced, holding her head momentarily, and said "Cassie's not happy"

"That's to be expected" Kenju replied as Aftran slowly exited Cassie's ear a moment later. Before the Animorphs' amazed eyes Kenju lifted Aftran to his own ear and let her reinfest him.

"Cassie? You okay?" Marco asked in concern while Jake continued to struggle with the senbon in his shoulder. Cassie looked up and smiled brightly, to the others' shock.

"It's okay you guys, Kenju is actually voluntary, and his Yeerk is Aftran! She's the one who infested me before, remember that time? Well, she was experimented on, and left to starve and Kenju saved her."

"When was that? Where's the Yeerk Pool?" Rachel demanded as Ax subtly removed the senbon from his tail. Cassie shook her head.

"There are only three Controllers in this nearby area, and all of them are voluntary. Haku just became a Controller a few minutes ago, but Kenju and…Hinata I think… have each been voluntary hosts for over seven years!" Her voice hardened a bit, "What I really want to know is this; Aftran, why did you break your promise? You promised to never take a host again?"

"And you promised to live your life out as a caterpillar, which you somehow escaped despite the two-hour time limit. So neither of us has kept that promise" Aftran shot back.

"You said that you tried to convince her to dimorph!" Jake hissed in pain, finally removing the last senbon and casting it aside.

"I also said that I'd never take another _involuntary_ host!" Aftran smirked, "What are you going to do? Starve me out?"

(Yes!) Kenju's eyes widened as Ax's tail blade appeared at his throat, (Move and die Yeerk)

Kenju's expression went from "calm" to "going to kill you" and he growled "Don't even try; I can defeat you all by myself!"

(Right) Jake said sarcastically, having morphed to his tiger form in record time. Rachel, in grizzly bear form, and Marco, now a gorilla, stood behind Aximili and Tobias, who had morphed into a copy of Aximili. Only Cassie remained as a human, not willing to fight.

(We've taken down about 20 Hork-Bajiir as a team. What makes you think that you can defeat us all?) Aximili asked condescendingly.

Kenju grinned like a feral beast, "Because I have four minds to look out for me!"

With that Kenju leaped forward.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Power and Dominance

XXXXXXXXXX

Jake roared and slashed at Kenju, a blow that should have cloven his chest open. Kenju laughed and blocked the blow with his bare arm. A horrible screeching sound grated on everyone's ears as Jake's claws left no mark on Kenju's skin. Haku laughed and Kenju nodded, before holding his hands out, palms down.

The Animorphs' eyes bulged as Kenju's hands sprouted large spikes made of bone, but he didn't stop there. Guided by Aftran, Kenju continued to create bones at specific locations and in specific shapes. Ax watched in horror as Kenju assumed the shape of some…thing that looked awfully like Visser 3's Blade Ship. Kenju laughed maniacally as he launched himself at the Animorphs, wings screaming.

Kenju, his intimidation factor working, discarded the excess bone after a moment; leaving only his palm spikes. He ducked under Marco's giant fist and stabbed him in both armpits. When Marco staggered back in pain, Kenju flipped backwards, severing the tendons of Rachel's front legs as she tried to attack from behind. Rachel angrily shed her grizzly form and began morphing to Hork-Bajiir. Meanwhile, Kenju dodged Jake's follow-up attack and hamstrung his tiger morph. As Rachel finished her second morph and Marco and Jake tried to dimorph Ax tried to step up his attack, only to have Kenju smash his spikes into each of Ax's legs, breaking the bones. Ax screamed; a horrible sound in thought-speech. Tobias tried to protect Ax and suffered the same fate.

"Die!" Rachel snarled as she slashed at Kenju with her wrist blades. Kenju easily deflected the first strike, then the second, and the third, and the fourth. A screech of rage tore from Rachel's throat as she stepped up her attack speed and intensity. Kenju continued to block, before he plunged a spike deep into Rachel's body. Rachel screamed in agony and began demorphing. In under a minute Kenju had carried out his threat and defeated the Animorphs.

"I told you that you couldn't win, my Kekki Genki ensures that!" Kenju reached behind his head and grabbed something…before he pulled out his entire spinal cord and held it before them. Rachel screamed, Marco's eyes rolled into his head and he passed out, Cassie looked disgusted, and Aximili looked terrified.

(From my studies of humans, that should be a fatal injury! Prince Jake-)

"Don't call me Prince!"

(Yes, Prince Jake, but I truly doubt that Kenju is entirely human.)

Kenju laughed, "My Kekki Genki allows me to regenerate and manipulate my bones at will, that's why you can't hurt me; I've grown bone fibers into my skin, making it harder than steel."

Kenju's voice took on a deadly tone, "Get this through your heads; you threaten Aftran and you deal with me!"

Cassie stood and said, "Aftran told me that the Yeerks that were experimented on don't need Kandrona Rays anyway, so starving Aftran out of him is not an option…not without killing Kenju as well." Kenju's supercilious smile provided all the confirmation that the other Animorphs needed.

"Just accept this; in our world you're far less powerful than you're used to. We have powers that you would never understand and we are stronger, faster, and can fight longer than any of you. Take comfort in the fact that we don't serve the High Vissers, otherwise you'd all be infested by now."

Suddenly a voice rang out in Kenju and Haku's heads, ((Kenju-san, come to the cave; you won't believe what I found today!))

((Xani?))

((…and Ahmos. Come quickly!))

Kenju refocused on the Animorphs, "Listen, I need to get back to my personal quarters. You can join Haku-chan and I in our village if you wish, Itachi-sama will most likely welcome you."

Jake sweat dropped, "We'll come, I guess. I don't think we really have a choice."

"Right you are" Haku smirked.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Pool

XXXXXXXXXX

On the way back to the village Aftran-Kenju explained about various things that Orochimaru had spawned; among them were the Garatron, the Inspector's host species.

"He combined the appearance of the Andalite with the ability to use sunshin no jutsu" Aftran had confessed, "They're almost unstoppable in force"

Finally they had reached the village, introduced the Animorphs, and gotten them lodgings. Jake, Rachel, and Ax had followed Kijaan Ado to a training ground to be instructed in rudimentary jutsu. Tobias and Marco had tried mingling with the other inhabitants. Tobias had already made friends with some of the children of the village while Marco had caused several people to question his sanity. Cassie had stayed and talked with Kenju, Haku, Hinata, and their Yeerks.

Upon return to the cave, Kenju, Haku, and the others discovered Isarbi and two other Genin standing over a small pool of water, a pool that held about twenty Yeerks!


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next few days the Animorphs became acclimated with their new dwellings in the village. Kijaan Ado and Uchiha Itachi spent lots of time with the Animorphs, teaching them basic ninja skills and sharing information about surrounding areas and other villages. Marco had tried to mingle with the village population again, but his personality had caused him to be branded as a weirdo, a title he may or may not have deserved.

Jake had decided to observe the population of the village in order to actually be accepted into the community. As the leader of the Animorphs, Jake had decided that they would try to settle down in the village rather than wander about. Because of that, they had been given dwellings and had started to help out around the village.

Tobias spent much of his time flying around the village and observing the villagers' reaction to him. So far he had become very popular with the children of the village, who had never seen a red-tailed hawk before. After a few days Itachi had approached Tobias and offered him a position as his personal messenger. Tobias accepted and promptly began helping with village communications.

Rachel and Ax both spent most of their time on the training grounds with their battle morphs. Neither of them interacted much with the villagers, and they absolutely shunned Kenju, Haku, and the others. They also began shunning Cassie when she began to spend time with the voluntary hosts. As far as they were concerned, the Yeerks were enemies and one does not speak with the enemy.

Cassie's friendships with the other Animorphs were train wrecks; Rachel and Ax were ignoring her, Marco treated her rudely for spending time with the "Controller Corps" as he had dubbed them, and Tobias always had a task as Itachi's messenger. Only Jake still treated her with respect, but he no longer seemed as interested in her as before. Cassie's only refuge had been Kenju, Aftran, and the other voluntary hosts and Yeerks. Cassie envied how content and happy the voluntary hosts seemed; they always had something to talk about, they never argued, and they always welcomed her without reserve.

Over the last few days Cassie had helped the Symbiotes, as they called themselves, to locate several more Yeerks. As there were no more voluntary hosts, Cassie helped Isarbi and Kenju to excavate a Yeerk Pool for the Yeerks without hosts to live in. The nutrients in the soil and water kept the Yeerks alive and content while the Symbiotes tried to find voluntary hosts for them. Cassie watched from the background for several days, observing the hosts and examining her own life, until one day she decided to become a host herself.

XXXXXXXXXX

Cassie nervously entered the first tunnel in the cave system that belonged to the Symbiotes. Navigating the twisting tunnels, Cassie reflected on her decision and whether or not she was sure of her choice. Convinced that she still believed in her choice, Cassie finally entered the meeting room/cavern.

"Hi Cassie-chan!" one of the newer Symbiotes, Tsumi, called brightly. Tsumi had joined at the young age of seven, one of the youngest Symbiotes, second only to Hinata when she became a host. The Symbiotes contained about twelve members by now, all young children and teenagers. All of them were Genin at this point, except for Tsumi who hadn't yet passed her exam.

Cassie smiled and greeted Tsumi and the few other members who were present. As they made conversation, Cassie noticed that Kenju, Hinata, and Haku were all absent. Just great, the founders weren't here, Cassie sighed to herself. Ahmos, Tsumi's older sister, and Xani, Ahmos' male teammate, usually took charge of "initiation" when Kenju, Haku, and Hinata were not present. They weren't the best with words, but since Cassie didn't need everything explained, that didn't matter.

"So Cassie-chan, what's up? We don't really have meetings until later in the afternoon" Xani inquired politely, "Is there something important?"

"Y-yes – I mean – Yes, there is another voluntary host for one of the Yeerks" Cassie said haltingly as she walked further into the cavern. Xani's face lit up in delight.

"Really?! That's great, who is it?" Ahmos asked as Cassie joined the group of people in the middle of the room.

"Um, actually me," Cassie admitted, "I've decided to become a host."

Ahmos and Xani looked taken aback while Tsumi squealed in delight, "That's great Cassie-chan! You'll be a good host, I just know that both of you will be happy! Maybe you'll convince your friends to join! Maybe…" Tsumi continued to ramble long after everyone had finally tuned her out.

Lumas-Xani regained his composure and smiled, "Well, this is…unexpected to say the least. Cassie, you're sure of this? We know that you're one of the Animorphs and that if you become a host you'll probably be treated poorly when the others find out"

Cassie looked down and said, "They treat me poorly anyway; they don't understand why I hang out with you guys when we, the Animorphs, fought the Yeerks for years" She sighed, "I never wanted to fight, but back then I thought that Yeerks were evil, at least until I met Aftran a while back. From that point on I wanted to become a host, but I knew that the others would be doomed. Now that we've found you I've got nothing to worry about; I'll be giving a Yeerk sight, they'll help me cope with things, and I'll have made a friend. Is that so hard to understand?"

Xani smiled broadly, "Not at all! That's the reason I joined, and you seem to understand why we're so content with our situation." As Xani continued smiling, Ahmos murmured, "If you'll follow me then, please."

Cassie followed Ahmos down another side tunnel to the Yeerk Pool. Unlike your stereotypical Yeerk Pool, this one was a small, shallow pool not suited for more than 50 Yeerks at a time. Currently there were eight Yeerks swimming in the nutrient-enriched water, each one seemed to be swimming about in a different manner. When Cassie mentioned this to Ahmos the girl just shrugged and told Cassie that each Yeerk, like each human, was different.

Ahmos asked Cassie to kneel down by the basin and place her ear to the water. As Cassie did so without hesitation, Amos reached into the pool and tapped a Yeerk at random. Once Cassie's ear touched the water the selected Yeerk quickly propelled itself through the water to her head. The Yeerk felt around with its palps and began to push itself into Cassie's ear. The Yeerk slowly took control as it forced its way into Cassie's head and Cassie smiled to herself. The entire process took about 30 seconds, after which the Yeerk made Cassie stand.

"It's alright, she's still voluntary and I'm going to talk to her" the Yeerk said to Ahmos.

(Hello Cassie, my name is Tyugen 127, and I'm glad to meet you) the Yeerk greeted Cassie as the girl began to grow nervous.

((Hi…)) Cassie paused, unsure if she should even talk to Tyugen when she would hear every thought that ran through her head.

(I know why you're thinking that, but I'd definitely prefer if we could interact like partners rather than host and parasite. My last host, Tsumi, and I got along very well, I hope that we can as well) Tyugen said.

Cassie mentally smiled and replied, ((I won't be a problem, I promise. I hope that we can be friends too, but I apologize in advance for how my "friends," the other Animorphs, will react when they find out))

Tyugen-Cassie smiled slightly, (If they find out Cassie, you don't have to tell them if you don't want to.) Tyugen informed Amos that they had reached an agreement and that they were ready to return to the others. As Amos led the way, Cassie felt herself regain control. She started in surprise, but Tyugen assured Cassie that she was supposed to be in charge right now.

(What? Did you think that I'd enslave you and take total control? Symbiotes share control between host and Yeerk, it supposedly fosters friendship, and that seems true enough. It's only when people like Rachel come along and decides that Yeerks are evil incarnate no matter who they are that we have problems.) Cassie continued to ascend the tunnel and reentered the meeting room.

"Cassie-chan! How are you doing? Who'd you get? Are you friends yet?" Tsumi chattered rapidly as she appeared at Cassie's side. Cassie smiled fondly.

"In order; I'm fine, I got Tyugen 127, and yes we are friends already," Cassie laughed at the young girl's antics as Tsumi began giggling.

"Wow, that's great! I had Tyugen before you, we got along too but you probably already know that. Are you going to tell the other Animorphs? I think you should. Maybe you don't want to, but I think it's a good idea. I'll even go with y-umph!" Xani's eye twitched as he held a hand over Tsumi's mouth, which continued to spout streams of words even though nobody could hear her.

"Good god Enir, can't you get her to stop babbling all the time?" Xani asked in exasperation. Cassie herself giggled, but it was Tyugen's mirth at Tsumi's position.

"Lumas-Xani, you've got a better chance of cutting down a tree with a feather _without_ using wind chakra than you have of changing Tsumi's personality" Tyugen laughed.

"Tyugen I assume," Xani smirked, "I suppose you're right, but we can still try"

Cassie took control and said, "Um, guys? I want to tell the others about my choice, but I'm afraid that they'll tie me up and try to starve Tyugen out, and if she bails to prove that I'm voluntary they'll just crush her. Tyugen wasn't experimented on, so she'll need to return to the Pool every three days to absorb nutrients. This will prove a problem if I take any missions, they'll have to be less than three days."

Lumas-Xani started to say something, but broke off and called, "Hello Kenju-sempai, I've got good news; Cassie decided to become a voluntary host!" Cassie, Tsumi, Amos, and everyone else turned to the entrance to see Aftran-Kenju and Uraaz-Haku entering the meeting room.

"How many times have I told you, just use -san when addressing me, -sempai makes me feel old" Everyone laughed, "Well Cassie, I am surprised and pleased with your choice, but I assume that you want to tell the other Animorphs. If you're going to do so, several of us will accompany you to their meeting."

Cassie sighed in relief, "Okay, let's do it!" (Cassie…you sound like Rachel) Tyugen giggled. Unseen by them, a red-tailed hawk took flight outside the cave.

XXXXXXXXXX

Jake practically seethed in anger when Tobias called a meeting; every time Tobias called a meeting there was something bad going on. Looking around, Jake sighed in frustration, Cassie was still absent.

(I know that none of you are pleased with this meeting being called, but something has happened) Tobias said, (Something really bad)

"What? What happened?" Rachel asked

(Cassie's become a Controller) Tobias said

Nobody moved for about a minute, they just let the shock sink in. Then Marco and Rachel both exploded.

"What the hell?! Again?" Marco cried "I thought she'd have the sense to avoid the Yeerks by now!"

"How did it happen? Did they force her to?" Rachel demanded

(Yes, again Marco. I'm not sure if she was forced, Rachel, but she may have been. I overheard the Yeerk talking to the other Controllers and saying that Cassie was voluntary, but I can't be sure that it was telling the truth)

Rachel ground her teeth, "No mercy this time; we starve the Yeerk right out of her head!"

(We'd better get ready then, because she's coming right now) Tobias said, and right on cue Cassie walked into the clearing. She didn't get more than two steps before she noticed the stony faces of the Animorphs.

"Um, guys? Is there a problem?" Tyugen-Cassie asked as she took in the glares of her "friends."

"Yes" Rachel said, "There is a very big problem, Yeerk!" Tyugen let out a gasp, and Rachel growled, "Let Cassie go you slug!"

As Rachel and the others took several steps towards Cassie; Amos, Xani, and Tsumi appeared beside her. The Animorphs jumped in surprise and Kenju and Haku also appeared.

Haku took in the angry expressions of the Animorphs and sighed in exasperation. "You can let go of any notion of starving Tyugen out of Cassie, for one thing you'd have to go through us, and in addition; Cassie is voluntary. You've got no way to force her to give up being a Symbiote, that's her choice. I mean really, do you think you can honestly beat the five of us and Cassie if she decides to fight, just to starve Tyugen out of her? You couldn't even beat Kenju by himself, so how would you defeat us all?"

"How the hell do we know that Cassie is voluntary?" Jake demanded, "The only way I'd believe her voice is if that Yeerk was out of her head!"

((Um, Tyugen? Could you let me talk to them? I want them to understand that I _am_ voluntary, and they won't believe me if you're in my head)) Cassie felt bad for asking Tyugen to leave, even for a short time, so soon after becoming her host.

(Of course Cassie) Tyugen said easily, (I can understand) and with that Tyugen detached from Cassie's brain and crawled out of her ear. Cassie cradled the Yeerk protectively. "Happy?" She demanded, "I chose to become a host, I'm voluntary, and I don't have to explain myself to you but I chose to do that as well"

"Traitor" Rachel spat, "You never should have joined us, you don't understand; the Yeerks ENSLAVE and INFEST people AGAINST THEIR WILL! How can you voluntarily join them knowing that? The fabled Yeerk Peace Movement-"Rachel never got to finish her statement as killing intent flooded the clearing.

Having never before experienced killing intent, the Animorphs practically collapsed in terror. Rachel, Ax, Marco, and Jake all tensed, unable to move as Kenju strode forward and glared thunder and flames at them. Anger radiated from him in waves as Kenju glowed with a faint blue aura of unleashed chakra.

"How dare you, who are you to judge us? Have any of you been forcibly infested and then treated like filth?" As Jake struggled to respond Kenju cut him off, "No, Temrash doesn't count. Your infestation was an accident, and as such you cannot classify it as involuntary. So that makes none of you; none of you have been held down screaming as a cruel Yeerk forces itself into your ear, takes over your body, and leaves your mind for dead. Have you ever wondered why there are voluntary Controllers where you came from? The "fabled" YPF contains about 95% of the entire Yeerk population, 80% of which is on earth! Most of the "involuntary" hosts that scream in the Yeerk Pool are actually providing protection for their Yeerks. They don't want the Vissers to find out and kill them."

Haku picked up the rant for Kenju, "So don't you DARE assume that the Yeerks are evil! The only reason that the Andalites hate the Yeerks is because of the deaths of those first Andalites because the Yeerks needed ships to travel the universe. You could not expect them to believe that the Gedds were sufficient hosts for them. Many of the species that were infested had been chosen for the knowledge that they possessed." Haku and Kenju continued to glare at the Animorphs even as Kenju released them from his killing intent.

"Hey, I know!" Tsumi burst out, "Maybe we should infest them for one feeding cycle so that they can experience being a host! They might realize that it's not so bad!" Kenju and Haku looked thoughtful as they considered the idea.

"You'll have to take us down before you can infest us, Yeerk scum!" Rachel snarled as the Symbiotes debated. Kenju sighed and mumbled, "If you insist" before four of the five Symbiotes executed sunshins, appeared behind the Animorphs, and knocked Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Ax out. Tobias volunteered to go without putting up a fight.

XXXXXXXXXX

Involuntary (and Voluntary) Infestation

XXXXXXXXXX

"No! NOOOO! You'll never make me do this!" Rachel began screaming the moment that she woke up. Kenju massaged his temples, hoping to head off his impending migraine. Amazingly; it worked.

Once the Animorphs had all woken, and Tobias had morphed to human, Kenju informed them – in no uncertain terms – of the fact that they would all be infested, whether they wanted to be or not.

"Order doesn't matter, so does anybody want to go first?" Kenju asked in an unyielding monotone. Tobias looked at his partners, then at Cassie. He shook his head, _to hell with it._ "I'll go first" Tobias murmured and walked voluntarily up to the Yeerk Pool.

Ignoring Marco and Rachel's screams of protest, Tobias knelt down and placed his ear to the water. Kenju reached into the pool and tapped a Yeerk which swam over to Tobias' head. Tobias only jerked slightly as the Yeerk began pushing its way into his head. After half of a minute the Yeerk had disappeared, at which point Tobias straightened, blinked in surprise, and turned to the Animorphs saying to nobody in particular, "I'm still in control, why?"

(You're still in control right now because you were given no choice on the matter. Later I may exercise some control if you'll let me) the Yeerk stated.

Tobias reeled, ((You're letting me stay in control? I thought-))

(You thought only what the Andalites have told you about my people. I can understand that, if only a little. Tobias, I hope you won't cast me off after the feeding cycle simply because of your subconscious prejudices, but if you do decide to go free I'll understand.)

((You obviously know my name, but I don't know yours)) Tobias noted as he walked over to the other side of the room. When Lumas-Xani asked Tobias how he felt, Tobias only answered, "I am… surprised"

(My name is Irmis 648) the Yeerk responded, and then questioned, (Your true body… is a hawk?)

((Yes, I'm a nothlit. You can look in my memories to get the full story, I'm not sure I can explain it well))

"Tobias? Tobias can you hear me? Listen to me; you have to fight the Yeerk!" Rachel shouted, "Please, don't give in!" Cassie, who had returned Tyugen to her head, scowled at Rachel as she continued to struggle. Tobias actually glowered at Rachel, who shrank back momentarily in surprise.

"The Yeerk is giving me control right now Rachel! He's not torturing me, he's not dominating me. Irmis bears us no ill will; I'm starting to suspect that we've been deceived, or misinformed, by the Andalites. Sorry Ax, but I don't think that I can trust your people as a whole anymore." With that Tobias demorphed to hawk and flew up to perch in an alcove on the ceiling, ignoring Ax's look of outrage.

"Next volunteer please" Kenju said mildly. When nobody spoke up he just sighed in exasperation and called, "Marco, your turn"

Marco paled, but carefully and slowly approached the pool. He did not pause until he reached the pool's edge. When he went to kneel down by the water, though, his legs buckled reflexively and he hastily stood again. "I can't do it" Marco said in a monotone, "I don't think I can do it"

"If you're unable to bring yourself to be infested, we can help you" Xani offered. Marco swallowed twice and nodded wordlessly. Xani walked briskly to the pool, dipped his hand in, and extracted a Yeerk. As he returned to Marco, Ahmos grabbed Marco's hands lightly to prevent him from reflexively resisting while Xani held the Yeerk to Marco's ear. Marco groaned and tried to move his head away halfheartedly, but Xani kept Marco steady as the Yeerk quickly pushed itself into his head. As soon as the Yeerk disappeared inside Marco's head Xani and Ahmos released him.

Marco crumpled to the ground, brokenly mumbling, "I'm a Controller, I can't-can't believe it; I just let it happen, I didn't resist." He mumbled a bit more before he abruptly straightened. "I am Nezran 732. Marco's in shock, so I have to take over for now. " Nezran walked Marco over to the opposite wall and leaned against it with his arms crossed, staring at the others. Just like Marco always did.

FWAPP!! PING! Ax's tail glanced off Kenju's arm again as he tried to attack Xani and Ahmos when they approached. Kenju glared at Ax with vehemence pouring his body in waves. Ax lashed out at all of them with his mind, (I will never submit to the likes of you! Yeerk scum!) Haku appeared behind Ax and struck him precisely in the back of his head. The raging Andalite collapsed limply.

"I think we'll have to infest _him_ while he's unconscious" Xani gasped, drenched in shock induced sweat. He plucked another Yeerk from the pool and placed it at Ax's ear. The Yeerk quickly infested Ax and began attempting to mentally pacify the outraged Andalite. It would take a while.

"Next!" Kenju muttered and groaned as Rachel finally threw off her restrainers and lunged at him in a furor. Kenju simply brought up his fist at the last second and Rachel crashed face first into it. She fell to the floor, dazed but conscious. Kenju practically saturated Rachel with killing intent, hoisted her up to the Yeerk Pool, and held her head to the water while tapping another Yeerk.

"No…" Rachel moaned faintly as the Yeerk swam over and pushed itself into her ear. Rachel struggled feebly as the Yeerk infested her, but to no avail; Kenju's grip was like iron. Rachel gave a final shudder as the Yeerk finally slipped entirely into her head. ((NO! NO! NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!)) Rachel screamed inside her head as the Yeerk took full control.

(Involuntary?) The Yeerk wondered, (My name is Hajin 532. Why would you be involuntary Rachel? I was told that only voluntary people would become hosts.)

"Rachel is involuntary, Kenju-sama. I want an explanation" Rachel's mouth said. Haku volunteered to explain while Kenju turned to the last Animorph.

"Jake; it's your turn. Will you be voluntary or not?"

Jake's face twisted in anguish as seeing his friends and comrades staring at him expectantly; but of course it could be the Yeerks inside their heads. This was exactly what he had dreaded, and now he had to decide. Would he resist like Rachel, or would he fall apart like Marco? Or, would he be voluntary like Tobias and Cassie?

Jake sighed, "Voluntary." Rachel's face momentarily contorted in rage, but then Hajin regained control over her. Without prompting, Jake approached the Yeerk Pool, dropped to his knees, and tapped another Yeerk. As soon as he pressed his ear against the water Jake felt the touch of the Yeerk's palps. Steeling himself, Jake allowed the Yeerk to start entering his head. Resigning himself to his fate and putting up no resistance at all Jake did not move as the Yeerk slipped the last of itself inside him.

Jake mentally despaired as he lost control of his body, but he became confused when the Yeerk withdrew its control. (My name is Lozma 937, Jake Berenson of the Animorphs. I can feel your fear and despair, and I despise it. Though I could dominate you like a slave, as you obviously have experienced from Temrash 113, the Symbiotes do not take hosts against their will. This event is unprecedented; Rachel, Ax, and Marco normally wouldn't have been infested, instead we would try to convince them to become voluntary.)


	6. Chapter 6

XXXXXXXXXX

Three Days Later

XXXXXXXXXX

(Alright Cassie, it's time for me to return to the pool and feed) Tyugen stated, (I suppose we'll also get to see the results of your teammates' infestation as well) ((Let's go now so you can feed early, that way you can see what happens firsthand))

Cassie quickly arrived at the Symbiotes' cave, passed through the meeting room, and reached the Yeerk Pool. To her surprise, Tobias was already there. "Tobias? Why are you here early?" Cassie asked.

(We wanted to see how the others react; we came early so that Irmis could feed in advance) Tobias said, (Speaking of which, Irmis, you'd better go feed now. I'll be waiting for you later) Tobias dropped to the ground and morphed to human. He knelt down by the pool and turned his head to the side. After a moment Irmis dropped out of Tobias' ear and landed in the pool. The Yeerk seemed drained of all energy, and had turned pure white. Tobias straightened and shook his head reflexively.

"Wow that feels weird when he comes out of my head. Cassie, you might want to have your Yeerk feed as well, Tyugen was it?" Cassie nodded, moved to the Yeerk pool as well, and let Tyugen drop into the pool. Tyugen also had turned pure white from lack of nourishment. Cassie straightened up and shook her head as well.

"You're right, it almost tickles. Well, Tobias, how was your time being a Controller?" Cassie asked Tobias. Tobias smiled ruefully and shook his head. When Cassie raised an eyebrow Tobias hastily explained.

"I still can't believe that we were all infested in the same day by the Yeerks, and that I chose to be voluntary after all we've been through. But that pales in comparison with the revelation that the Yeerks are relatively decent to their hosts. Irmis is still mostly just observing me as I fly since he can't yet do that comfortably. He refuses to tap my memories without my permission, and he doesn't even cause me to morph! He has no more control than I give him; it's the absolute opposite of what my father, Elfangor, told us about them."

Cassie nodded, "Tyugen and I pretty much share control; it's actually hard to decide sometimes which of us is in control since we're so similar. I actually think that symbiosis with Yeerks could work. I don't know about the others, but I'm definitely staying as a host." Tobias nodded in agreement.

After about fifteen minutes of Cassie and Tobias talking with each other, Kenju entered the Yeerk pool and stopped short. "Um, am I interrupting something?" he asked. Tobias and Cassie slowly turned and stared at Kenju, then at each other, then back at Kenju, and said in unison, "No."

"We're just letting Irmis and Tyugen feed early because they want to see how the others react. Do you know how long they have to feed?" Cassie wondered

"Probably for about half an hour, maybe less" Kenju said, "They already seem to be regaining a bit of color"

"Good," Tobias said, "Then they're almost done feeding"

After another 15 minutes Irmis and Tyugen had regained their normal gray-green tint. Voluntarily, Tobias and Cassie both allowed themselves to be reinfested by their respective Yeerks. Kenju seemed a bit surprised that Tobias had allowed himself to remain a host. He voiced his observation.

"So, Tobias, you've decided to remain with the Symbiotes?"

"Yes, Irmis hasn't actually gotten a chance to be in control yet; he's not ready to deal with the prospect of flying. Besides, I'm convinced that being a Symbiote will be fine by me. I can accept the fact that I was mistaken in my views of Yeerks," Tobias stated as the other Animorphs finally filed into the Yeerk Pool room. Marco and Jake seemed outwardly fine, but Ax moved erratically – jerking and swaying, and Rachel's eyes sported large bags under them.

"Glad you could join us," Kenju smiled, "If you'll be so kind as to have your Yeerks drain out to feed. You'll have time to speak to each other and decide whether or not you want to continue being a host. Tobias and Cassie have already let their Yeerks feed, and have both decided to remain as Symbiotes. We'll need to know your opinions as well."

One by one Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Ax each knelt by the pool and allowed their Yeerks to drain out. Jake and Marco recovered easily enough, but Ax practically seethed with frustration as he regained total control, and Rachel just stood with her head down and her fists clenched. Kenju stood at the door with his arms crossed, preventing anyone from bolting.

Jake started off the conversation, "Well… I'll be the first to say that being infested was… different than expected." Jake tried to say more, but Rachel cut him off.

"How the hell can you say that? I've spent the last three days being controlled like a puppet by that damn Yeerk! Everything that we always feared came true for me!" Rachel screeched

"And what would you have done if you were in control, Rachel?" Kenju asked. Rachel's eyes glowed with fury.

"I would have killed myself rather than be infested! I stand by the free Hork-Bajiir, free or dead!" Kenju sighed in resignation, "Well, that answers that; Rachel, you're free to go after you've heard everyone else's opinion." Rachel stared at Kenju in surprise.

"What did you say?"

"I said you'll be free to go; you obviously don't want to be a host any more, and we won't force you. It was only your attitude that caused the time to be miserable for you."

Marco spoke up, "He's got a point Rachel. I spent about half of the first day in shock or fighting Nezran, but eventually I calmed down and tried to cooperate with him. After that he seemed pretty decent; we haven't been fighting for control, we've talked with each other, and – dare I say it – we're practically friends. I never thought I'd say this, but I will continue to be a voluntary host…god I still can't believe this" Marco seemed a bit shell-shocked by his own statement.

"I understand what you mean," Jake said, "Lozma has been very easygoing and cooperative with this. I've got no complaints; I'm staying." Jake turned to Ax, who had so far been silent, "Ax? What about you? Do you have anything to say?"

(Prince Jake-)

"Don't call me Prince!" Jake groaned,

(Yes Prince Jake,) Ax said, earning laughs from everyone except Rachel, (I…I would hate the Yeerk who infested me, except for the lack of things to hate about him! He gave me no reason to despise him; he let me have control, he refrained from delving into my memories, and he was most pleasant to talk to! He only maintained control over my tail for a few hours to prevent me from killing myself!) Ax's shell-shocked attitude made Marco's seem non-existent. (All our lives Andalites are taught to hate the Yeerks because they seek to enslave the universe. We train to fight them and kill them. We have extensive databases on the Yeerks…and none of them are true!) Ax seemed distraught, (We were taught lies… lies, all lies.)

"Well, the Yeerks were educated from birth to hate and kill Andalites," Aftran remarked mildly, "We perhaps have been misguided about your species as well."

(The other Andalites will curse me and disgrace me. I will be banished from my people) Ax said, (For I shall be the first voluntary Andalite-Symbiote. I do not submit, I choose this of my own free will!)

"I'm in, voluntary Symbiote as well" Marco smiled

"Same here" Jake said with a grin

"You already know my answer" Cassie said.

(Voluntary) Tobias said

Rachel growled in rage, "You're all delusional! They're just luring you into a false sense of security, they'll take over when you least expect it!"

"To what point and purpose, Rachel? If the Yeerks wanted to take us over they wouldn't worry about being subtle, they'd just do what we saw in our hometown's Yeerk Pool" Marco retorted

"They…" Rachel protested, but she was overridden by Kenju.

"You won't be able to convince them of your opinion Rachel. They have made their choice, and you have made yours. You will still be welcome here, so long as you don't cause problems. You are the last of the Animorphs; your comrades have joined the Symbiotes by their own choice"

"You're fools! All of you!" Rachel screamed as she stormed past Kenju and out of the Yeerk Pool room. The others simply stared after her.

"She'll never understand, will she?" Cassie sighed.

(Probably not) commented Tyugen as Kenju turned to the remaining Animorphs.

"Every three days you'll need to return here, blah, blah, blah. The really important thing that you need to know is that the minerals and nutrients in the pool, as well as the chakra supplied by the ninja hosts cannot sustain the Yeerks indefinitely. We need Kandrona Rays, and the only way to get them is to contact the Empire." Kenju overrode the startled exclamations of the Animorphs, "Think about it; we're in a remote part of the world, one with no favorable resources and insufficient hosts for the main part of the Empire to come here. At the very least, your Yeerks will be promoted to Sub-Vissers for 'capturing' the 'Andalite Bandits' and you'll be safe from the Empire. We'll even get a Kandrona to sustain the Yeerks, and all the while the Visser will think that we're 'faithfully' expanding the Yeerk Empire while we're only finding voluntary hosts for the YPF. If we talk to Visser 5 or Visser 9 we'll be able to easily secure portable Kandrona and the Yeerks that will inevitably sent to us will be from the YPF. It's almost fool proof; we'll all benefit right from under Visser One's nose."

Marco surprised everyone by laughing, "I like it, but there's one problem; Ax. I doubt that the second 'Andalite-Controller' would be promoted to a mere Sub-Visser, and the brother of the legendary Elfangor would probably get Mahket promoted to a high ranked Visser! Then what?"

Kenju smirked, "Easy, if Mahket is promoted to, say, Visser 15 he'll be able to remain here. Visser One will probably not want the second Andalite-Controller out in public to steal his glory. He'll assign Mahket back to this area, to keep him out of the way, and as Visser Mahket will be able to request up to ten Sub-Vissers as his subordinates. They will be the four of you, and perhaps others from the YPF as well."

(Brilliant!) Ax exclaimed

"If we are in agreement I'll contact the Empire as soon as you've all gotten your Yeerks back" Kenju said

"I'm fine with it"

"Me too"

"And me"

(Myself as well)

(And me)

"Good" Kenju said, "I believe that your Yeerks are ready now, if you are too we might as well get this whole operation started."

In short order, Ax, Marco, and Jake accepted their Yeerks back into themselves. As soon as they all stated that they were ready, Kenju informed them that the Yeerks would have to take charge during the communications, just to prevent any slip-ups.

Once they were all ready, Kenju brought them up through the meeting room, past the various different entrances, and into another cave. He explained that it was his personal dwelling, and that he didn't have one in the village. Kenju led them to the sphere of bone.

"You can walk right into it, it's larger than it looks" Kenju assured them as he simply phased through the side of the sphere. The Animorphs hesitantly filed into the casket after Kenju. Once inside Kenju extracted his Gemheart from his arm and placed it at the tip of a bone spire that protruded from the floor. Kenju entered a meditative sitting position and began to channel chakra from the Gemheart outward and upward, aimed at the sky.

"Ax, morph to human until I say otherwise; the Empire doesn't need to know about you just yet. Tobias, the same goes for you" Kenju grunted distractedly. Then he muttered, "Got them, get ready for communication"

A thin film of chakra wavered and condensed into a screen. A face flickered onto the screen, scowling. "Who are you? Why have you contacted the Yeerk Empire?"

"At ease," Kenju said calmly, "I am Aftran 942 and I have contacted the Empire to request a hearing with Visser Nine."

The Controller sneered, "What makes you think that Visser Nine would waste time on you?"

"Simply tell her that the stone has resurfaced, I am sure that she will understand." The Controller's eyes widened at the former code for the YPF.

"Very well Aftran 942, I will connect you to Visser Nine." The man's face disappeared and a human woman's face replaced his.

"Greetings, member of the Yeerk Peace Front, I am Visser Nine; Kelrin 103. Why have you contacted me?"

Kenju stared, alarmed as the Gemheart began to lose its color, only about another minute.

"Visser Nine, my name is Aftran 942. I would say more, but my power source is about to fail. I have sent you our coordinates; we need a small Kandrona and one of the higher-ups of the YPF to meet us there as soon as possible!" Kenju spoke as rapidly as possible, "We would prefer that you come personally, because the situation is one that could tip the scales in our favor."


End file.
